I'm Richa, the face behind My Food Story. Welcome to this series where I send you an email exclusive tip/recipe every Wednesday!
Here's today's Tip/Kitchen Hack:
Summer is coming and the best part about it is the abundance of fresh seasonal fruits that's starting to show up in the markets!
I've always relied on my mum to pick out the best fruits and serve it to us as a snack with some chatpata chaat masala. But after I moved out, I realized how hard it is to actually pick out a perfectly sweet, ripe, juicy fruit! But I soon figured out a few hacks that can help with this, using my mum's infinite knowledge and experience of course 🙈
Before we move on to the hacks, there is an important thing you need to learn about - Climacteric and non-climacteric fruits. Climacteric fruits are those that will continue to ripen even after being picked, by producing ethylene. Non-climacteric fruits will not ripen once picked and will continue to slowly rot. Knowing this difference can make fruit shopping a whole lot easier!
Climacteric fruits include - Apple, banana, mango, papaya, pear, apricot, peach, plum, avocado, plantain, guava, nectarine, passion fruit, blueberry, cantaloupe. These fruits are often picked when unripe as it makes transportation easier!
Non-climacteric fruits include - Citrus fruits such as grapefruit and pomelo, berries such as raspberry, strawberry and cherry, grapes, pineapple, melon (including watermelon), pomegranate. Purchase these fruits only as and when you need them!
1. The Rice trick to ripen fruit faster - Climacteric fruits can be submerged in uncooked rice to help ripen it faster. What the rice does is trap in the ethylene gas around the fruit rather than allowing it to escape into the air, this forces the fruit to utilize the gas and cause it to ripen faster!
2. The Air Tight container trick - Just like the rice, an airtight container will also help trap in the ethylene gas enabling climacteric fruits to ripen at a faster rate.
3. The Upside Down Pineapple trick - Pineapple is a tricky one because it is a non-climacteric fruit that has a hard exterior, so you can't really tell if it's ready to eat or not. If you are not ready to consume it just yet, one way to slow down the rotting process is to store pineapples upside down. This will help evenly distribute the sugars and prevent it from settling at the bottom and causing it to rot!
4. Picking the right Watermelon hack - Knock on the watermelon and listen to the sound. A hollow sound indicates that the watermelon is ripe! Or you can look for the field spot - the spot where the watermelon was resting on the ground - it is usually a big splotch, white yellowish in color. The more yellow the spot is, the riper the watermelon will be!
Hope this helps!! Is there anything else you need help with? Reply and tell me and I'll make sure to include it in my next few emails.
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