Did you know that fruit can catch a cold? Did you know that fruits need to be cooled when you buy them? Everyone loves fruit, but not everyone knows how to store it properly!
This scenario is often seen in your home – weekend to go to the big store fruit purchase, after returning home, all the brain stuffed into the refrigerator, but also from time to time some rotten, moldy fruit in the refrigerator to clear out, not only a waste of money also wasted food ……. “Fruit preservation” may seem simple, but if you want to eat fresh and tasty fruit, you must learn how to preserve it properly.
Fruits actually breathe
Fruits bought from the market are still a living entity, so they will continue to undergo “respiration” and “evaporation”. The so-called respiration is that the fruit will continue to decompose and consume its own nutrients to produce energy and maintain vitality in order to maintain life. Fruits also undergo “evapotranspiration”, that is, water gradually escapes from the surface of the fruit skin, generally speaking, the water of fruits accounts for about 80%-90%, so it can be seen that the stronger the evapotranspiration, the more water will be lost, and the appearance of quality will become worse.
In addition, some fruits (such as apples, pears, mangoes, etc.) will produce “ethylene” when ripening, ethylene is a plant hormone, is colorless and tasteless gas, it will accelerate the ripening and aging of fruits, if the higher the temperature of stored fruits, the more ethylene will be released, then the quality of fruits will be affected.
The above characteristics of fruits, we can learn that the key point of storing fruits is to reduce its respiration, evaporation and ethylene generation, and to pay attention to the growth of microorganisms. However, not all fruits are suitable for refrigeration. Some fruits will suffer from chilling injury or hypothermia and cannot be placed at too low a temperature. Some fruits do not have this phenomenon, can be placed in a lower temperature environment, most temperate fruits belong to this category, such as apples, peaches, etc.
Refrigerate or put at room temperature? There is no standard answer
Fruits have inherent storage limitations, and good storage conditions will also affect the storage period, but the suitable storage temperature for each type of fruit is not quite the same, so the temperature is one of the key conditions.
However, the refrigerator at home and commercial refrigerator is not the same, only a single body, refrigeration temperature to meet the requirements of most of the stored food, so it is generally recommended to set at 4 ℃ – 5 ℃, although the temperature is not suitable for all fruits and vegetables, but for most of the food, but is a very good turnover conditions. If the refrigerator does not provide the function of temperature display, the easiest way is to use a thermometer to measure and monitor the refrigerator temperature, however, the temperature of the refrigerator freezer will change due to the outside temperature, but also with the amount of food put in and change, so you need to adjust the refrigerator settings.
I believe that most people do not understand and cannot remember the appropriate temperature of various fruits, so the general principle is that temperate fruits are suitable for refrigeration, tropical fruits (such as bananas) can be put at room temperature, cool and well ventilated place, but refrigeration will make the flesh of the fruit deteriorate due to cold damage, for example, bananas will turn black on the outside, the flesh of the fruit rotten.
However, do not refrigerate fruits that are not yet ripe and cannot be eaten immediately, otherwise they will become what is commonly known as “dumb”, that is, the fruit will remain in an unripe state because of the cold damage at low temperature, and even if they are moved to room temperature, they will soon decay. Take avocado as an example, it is ripe only when the outer skin turns black, if you put it in the refrigerator when it is green, it will not ripen again, even if you take it out of the refrigerator and move it to room temperature to remedy the situation, its taste has become bad and it will rot soon.
After the fruit is bought home, it should be restored to the state it was in when it was purchased. For example, if the fruit is cold when it was purchased, it should be put in the refrigerator as soon as possible after it is bought home, and if it is purchased at room temperature, it should be refrigerated when it has cooled off and the fruit is ripe. Especially in summer, we should pay attention to the problem of heat dissipation, otherwise the fruit will not be able to dissipate heat and immediately in the low temperature environment and injury.
Should I wrap paper or plastic bags?
When refrigerating fruits, lowering the ambient temperature and maintaining humidity are the keys to storing fruits. Fruits can lose water if they are stored in the refrigerator untreated. There is no humidity control in a home refrigerator, so food that is put in there can easily lose water, which can be determined by whether the fruit is plump and full. Therefore, it is best to put the fruit into the refrigerator wrapped in plastic bags to avoid water loss in storage.
Paper has an absorbent effect, when the fruit in and out of the freezer, because of the temperature difference, the phenomenon of condensation on the surface of the fruit, the condensation is not conducive to fruit storage, so, wrapped in paper is conducive to the absorption of condensation, the skin of the more tender fruits first wrapped in paper, then wrapped in plastic bags, is to avoid the damage caused by condensation on the skin, some of the fruits and vegetables will occur cold damage will often be wrapped in paper first, because the cold damage caused by the weak resistance of the epidermis, so as to reduce the damage caused by condensation.
Most people no longer use newspaper wrapping because of the ink, it is recommended that you can use the paper bags provided by fast food stores to regulate moisture, and then add a layer of plastic bags outside, not only no ink problems, and the paper bags are three-dimensional, can save refrigerator space.
The more convenient “plastic bag poke hole method”, that is, only use plastic bags of fruit, the focus is to poke a few small holes to let the fruit breathe, just like the supermarkets sell fruit, will also be punched in the outer packaging of several small holes, is convenient for consumers to buy home can be directly refrigerated.
But the “huge” fruit, how to store to save space? In summer, when watermelon is in full bloom, many people cover their incomplete watermelon with plastic wrap and refrigerate it, as it is less likely to spoil than if it were cut up. It is best not to let the plastic wrap directly touch the food. Cut the watermelon into small pieces and put them in the crisper as soon as possible to ensure safe consumption. Generally speaking, the storage period for frozen fruit is longer, but once cut into small pieces, the tissue has been severely damaged and is prone to microbial growth, so the storage period becomes significantly shorter, with only a few hours or days left. When dealing with cut fruit, it is necessary to pay attention to the sanitary conditions of the cutting board and hands to avoid contamination of the fruit.
For soft fruits such as persimmons, peach and avocado, you can follow the example of vendors who use plastic mesh bags to protect the fruits and put them in a plastic box after covering them one by one to avoid bumping into other ingredients.
If you want to speed up the ripening of frozen fruits, you can wrap them with apples and they will ripen quickly. Grapes, which are usually sold in bunches, are best stored by cutting them off one by one and storing them in a crisper. If there are any rotten fruits, they should be picked up and thrown away as soon as possible to avoid accelerating the decay of other fruits.
Refrigerator is not a storage room to eat within a week
Refrigerators are often opened, so the temperature can be unstable, but as long as the crisper is not opened often, the temperature will be relatively stable and is a better storage location.
Fruit is a breathing organism and will “ripen on its own” whether it is kept at room temperature or refrigerated, so don’t buy too much at once and eat it all within a week. Experts have stressed that it is important not to rely too much on the refrigerator to avoid affecting the freshness, taste and sweetness of the fruit.
If you buy too much fruit and can’t finish it, you can use the freezing method to extend the shelf life in the hot summer. Summer lychee is the sweetest but not durable, “you can first soak the lychee in salt water and drained and refrigerated, so that it is less likely to deteriorate. Really can not eat it all cut a grain of a grain put frozen, although the outer skin will dry brown, but the flavor and taste of the flesh remains unchanged, even into the winter will not be bad! In addition, bananas that do not tolerate low temperatures can also be peeled and frozen in plastic bags or boxes to make smoothies or fruit and vegetable juices to cool off and beat the heat in summer.
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