How to tell if fruit is fresh

Bean_Counter

Apologies if this is blindingly obvious to most of you, but if I am in the supermarket, how can I tell which items of fruit are the best ones to chose?

I'm fine with apples, bananas etc, but for oranges, pears, kiwi fruit, grapefruits etc, should it be the firm ones or the soft ones that I select?

Many thanks.

bertiebots

I would say go for firm oranges/grapefruits etc as they are on their way when going soft ..the same goes for kiwi and pears wont keep if they are soft when you buy them. Generally if something is going a bit squishy and possibly feels a tad sticky its past its best!:D

Undersized_Rascal

Pears........sometimes they just stay hard.......anyone got any better advice on them?

Love avacado, buy a week before you want to eat

Justamum

Undersized_Rascal wrote: »

Pears........sometimes they just stay hard.......anyone got any better advice on them?

Buy tinned ones :rotfl:I don't like pears hard or floury, but they go from rock hard to bad in a matter of a day sometimes. Heaven knows what they do to them to make them do that. So if I want pears I buy tins.

Undersized_Rascal wrote: »

Love avacado, buy a week before you want to eat

Such a luxury. They are 99p at our supermakardo atm. :eek:

Skint_Catt

My OH tells me that the 3 week old grapefruit in the kitchen in yummier (less sharp) than when its fresh :rolleyes:

newlywed

Different pears seem to stay hard longer I only like hard pears that crunch like an apple - yeah I'm strange :rolleyes: - the green Packhams pears seem to stay much harder and crunchier than say a William.

ravylesley

I always check my oranges are firm and the skins arent dried and wrinkled etc.As for pears I always buy comice pears and if they are too hard I put them in the fruit bowl with a couple of bananas and within a few days the bananas have ripened the pears for me

Lesleyxx

Stephen_Leak

Oo yes, I always give my onions and oranges a squeeze. It's the only squeeze I'm likely to have for the forseeable future. :sad:

Steve-o

As Bertiebots said, Kiwi and pears won't keep if they are soft so buy them when they are firm.

Kiwi's can be very sharp tasting when they are very firm, but get sweeter as they ripen and soften (and can be scooped out of their skin with a spoon at this stage). You'll have to find out which type of flavour you like: so if you like them tangy, certainly don't buy any that are already ripe.

The same goes for Sharon fruit - soft means they are very ripe and won't last much longer (but very sweet at this stage).

Bean_Counter

Thanks for all the replies.

Current strategy is to stand in the supermarket groping fruit whilst trying to look knowledgable before dropping a random one in the bag.

Now I can grope knowing what I am doing.

Jammygal

A pineapple is ready to eat when the leaves can be pulled out of the top with a small tug...
Bananas ripen all other fruit they are near so use this to your advantage by placing with fruit you need to ripen but remove if other fruit are ripening too quickly.
If pears are not going to ripen, peel, core and slice and blast for a few mins in microwave until they are the consistency of tinned fruit. Kids will love them this way