Best Before Date on Rock Hard Fruit!!
I miss the days when I could walk into a green grocer and buy ripe fruit. I rarely by pears for example as they are rock hard. I love a fruit salad and find it makes a great lunch on those hot sumer days when we want a break form the heat and a nice quiet
afternoon by the 'van, but it can be a nightmare finding things like ripe mango, pear impossible, melon OK in after 10 days of storage. Peaches and appricot not much better.
I also love a ripe advocado eaten simply with a small spoon out of the skin. Even they are not easy to find although Lidl have had plenty of nice ones over the last few summers.
Earlier this year I bought a melon thinking it would be ripe in 5 or 6 days. I forgot about it and it was covered and lying on the back seat of the car for 10 days in warm weather. It was beautiful. MMany fruit only come ripe a week or so after their use
by date.
Comments
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Buy your fruit from a market, EasyT, as there are far fewer greengrocers than there used to be. We find that fruit and veg from the market aren't chilled like the supermarkets, and we've found that things taste better, and are nearly always ripe enough
when bought.Not only that, but vegetables don't go off as quickly - carrots stay fresh, broccoli doesn't yellow, and potatoes don't produce shoots as soon as you've turned your back on them. And, they're cheaper too - our local market stall in our local town in England
today will have five peaches for a pound - all ready to eat, strawberries for a pound, and blueberries too and most other things are half the price of the supermarkets. Even better are the market stalls in France where everything on the stall is one euro
a kilo and you just fill a washing up bowl with whatever mix of fruit and/or veg you want, they weigh the bowl and charge you an overall price instead of weighing everything seperately.Supermarkets buy in quantity, before fruit and veg are fully ripe, and keep things chilled until they.re ready to go on the shelves. This delays ripening, but once they're out of the chiller it also speeds up decay.
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Two weeks ago we purchased some "ripen at home" plums from the reduced price shelf, short use by date, from upmarket Waitrose. Guess what, they are still as hard as rock and have no flavour. About to make a batch of chutney, I suppose they can go in the
pot there.0 -
Two weeks ago we purchased some "ripen at home" plums from the reduced price shelf, short use by date, from upmarket Waitrose. Guess what, they are still as hard as rock and have no flavour. About to make a batch of chutney, I suppose they can go in the
pot there.I bought some of those too, at the reduced price - and they are currently stewing, with plenty of sugar, for a pudding this evening. They started to wrinkle before they started to ripen!
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I agree about buying from markets etc. OK in some parts of the country and some towns therein. When I want to make a fruit salad for example it is in the summer (May, June, July) or late Summer Autumn (September). of these 17 weeks we are away on tour for
11 of them and not always able to find a good outlet when I want it.For example when we were last at Henley on Thames. The weather was very hot. We had been out in the morning for 4 hours and come 1pm decided to head back and sit in the shade with a large fruit salad and relax. We were able to source some lovely fruit. Sat
down at 2pm and had a snack meal later around 6.30. Lovely.Yes I think it is the bannanas that ripen
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I suspect the supermarkets are not all that clever at what they do with fruit and vegetables. The local Morrisons has tomatoes etc in unrefridgerated displays, yet coconuts are in the chiller!
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.. .I've just asked Carol, and she reckons that when you mix bananas and other fruit, it's the other fruit that ripens quicker. Any other votes for either way!
David
I'm with Carol bananas ripen other fruit that's why you store them separately
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Have to agree on supermarket fruit. Rock solid or wrinkled before ripening!
I'd also agree supermarkets not good at keeping fruit and vegetables.
Tomatoes shouldn't be chilled unless to slow ripening and garlic should never be in the fridge.
My rule of thumb is if it grew in the dark keep it out of the light, if it comes from warmer climes don't put in the fridge. If it needs ripen light and warmth.
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.. .I've just asked Carol, and she reckons that when you mix bananas and other fruit, it's the other fruit that ripens quicker. Any other votes for either way!
David
Yes bananas will ripen other fruits, to slow a bananas rippening keep it cool but do not put in fridge as they go black.
I find fruit from Aldi/Lidl are usually ripe on buying in most cases 2 days will see it going off. Other supermarkets usually last a few days longer, however I've found peaches and nectarines can on occasion not rpen at al but go kind of furry inside, not
pleasant at all. We don't have any markets or fruit and veg shops so can't compare them.0 -
Never mind "best before", what we need is "poisonous after" dates.
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We're lucky around here, to have a number of local markets, where fruit and vegetables are available. There are markets three times a week in our local town, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and each one has a couple of good fruit and vegetable stalls.
Then there is a Farmer's Market once a month, but to me some fruit and veg stalls sell stuff which is not always as good quality as it should be and is usually vastly more expensive than the normal market.
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We use Pyo and markets or decent green grocers for most of our fruit and veg.
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We've got the freshest possible Bramley apples today - picked from the tree today and straight into a bag and home, courtesy of someone offering them on Freecycle to anyone who would help him pick them all. They will shortly be converted into cooked apples
for pies, apple sauce, and added to my summer fruit to make a hedgerow jelly.0 -
Supermarkets keep most fruit and veg far too cold. Carrots and parsnips are a case in point, look fine when you buy them, then go all floppy / soggy as they warm up.
Don't shop in Iceland then
....
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Supermarkets keep most fruit and veg far too cold. Carrots and parsnips are a case in point, look fine when you buy them, then go all floppy / soggy as they warm up.
Don't shop in Iceland then
....ha ha Don't travel that far, prefer local
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