Fruit Baskets and gift Care
Received a delicious fresh fruit basket and not sure how best to look after the fruit? Here's our guide to caring for your fruit.
Top tips:
- Remove rubber band or ties grouping your fruit together
This helps stop bruising of the fruit surface. - Do not wash your fruit until you are ready to eat it, and ensure fruit is dry before storing
Moisture is one of the biggest reasons why freshness of fruit deteriorates more quickly. - Avoid cutting your fruit (such as melons) before you are ready to eat
Being exposed to the air means the fruit dries out quickly and won’t taste its best. If you do cut your fruit up and want to save some for later, always store it in the fridge. - The ‘fruit draw’ which is commonly found at the bottom of most fridges is a great place to store fruit that likes a cool environment.
Did you know some fruits release a natural ripening gas?
A small selection of fruits naturally produce and release a chemical known as ethylene gas (ripening agent). This gas speeds up the ripening process of fruit and vegetables nearby – which can be great or a pain depending on when you want to eat your fruit! It is important to consider this when you are storing your fruits.
Fruits that produce a high amount of ethylene gas:
- Apples
- Apricots
- Bananas
- Cantaloupe Melon
- Figs
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Pears
- Plums
It is worth thinking about what fruits you store near each other, to avoid quickly ripening fruit you don’t want to!
Can you freeze fresh fruit?
If you have some lovely ripe fruit but just not enough hours in the day to eat it all, most fruit freezes really well – especially berries. Frozen fruit can last up to a year in the freezer and are perfect for making smoothies, overnight breakfast oats or in muffins and baking.
How to ripen fruit
Fresh fruit is best to ripen naturally, normally at room temperature. However sometimes you may want to encourage the ripening process!
Bananas you should never store in the fridge, as this hinders the ripening process. If you have some bananas you want to use for cooking or baking but need some more ripening, you can do this by wrapping them individually in tin foil and bake in a hot oven for 10-20 minutes.
Some fruits such as peaches, plums and cantaloupe melon release natural ripening agent known as ethylene gas. So place the fruit you want to ripen in a brown paper bag along with a gas producing fruit and leave for a day or 2.
How to store your fresh fruit
Apples
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 1 week
Apricots
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days
Tip: to help ripen Apricots, place in a paper bag and keep at room temperature until soft.
Bananas
How to store: Room temperature
Recommended time: 5 days
Tip: Use a banana tree hanger to help air circulation and avoid bruising.
Blackberries
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 2 days
Tip: Remove any damaged berries before storing to avoid spread of mould.
Blueberries
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 1 week
Tip: Remove any damaged berries before storing to avoid spread of mould.
Cantaloupe Melon
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days (whole) or 3 days (cut)
Tip: Cantaloupe Melon is one of the fruits that naturally releases ethylene gas, so store away from any other fruit you don’t want to ripen too quickly!
Cherries
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 days
Tip: store cherries in an open bag or bowl
Clementine
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days
Cranberries
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 1 month
Grapefruit
How to store: Room temperature or refrigerator
Recommended time: 1 week at room temperature or 3 weeks in fridge
Grapes
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 days
Tip: store grapes in a ventilated bag or bowl to extend freshness to a week
Honeydew Melon
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days (whole) or 3 days (cut)
Tip: to help ripen Honeydew Melon, keep it at room temperature in a paper bag
Kiwi
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 4 days
Lemon
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 weeks
Mango
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 4 days
Limes
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 weeks
Plums
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days
Tip: to ripen plums, keep them at room temperature until soft and the skin develops a silver, powdery looking coating.
Oranges
How to store: Room temperature or refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 days at room temperature or 2 weeks in the fridge
Peaches
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days
Pears
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 5 days
Raspberries
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 days
Tip: Remove any damaged berries before storing to avoid spread of mould.
Strawberries
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 3 days
Tip: Remove any damaged berries before storing to avoid spread of mould.
Tangerines
How to store: Refrigerator
Recommended time: 1 week
Watermelon
How to store: Room temperature to ripen and fridge once cut
Recommended time: 1 – 2 weeks whole or 2 days once cut