When you buy fruit from your favourite grocery store or local farmer’s market, you might be inclined to buy too much or even too little. The same can be said when you send a fruit hamper as a gift to somebody special. As important as it is for the fruit display to look attractive, it should also be practical. For example, if you are buying a fruit basket for one person, it will be considerably smaller than one you would send to a family. Another important point to consider is just how long fresh fruit lasts. How long can you really keep it before it starts to go bad?

Ripe test

The key is to take note of just how ripe the fruits are when you buy them. Overly ripened fruit will spoil much quicker than fruit that is just about to ripen. This is why, if you are planning on stocking up for a few days, you should choose several ripe fruits as well as some that have not yet ripened. By the time you finish the ripe fruits, the others will be ripe and ready to enjoy!

Fast spoilers

Fruits that can spoil within just a couple of days after ripening include avocados, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and cherries. It’s also important to note that unripe avocados can be ripened faster by placing them beside some bananas. Bananas give of certain properties that hasten the process in avocados. However, once your avocados are ripe, you will need to keep those bananas away!

Longer shelf-life

Fruits that last longer than an entire week include apples, cranberries, and pomegranates. While most other fruits will last up to a week. These include apricots, blueberries, grapefruit, clementines, kiwi, lemons, limes, oranges, pears, plums, tangerines, lychees, and watermelon.

Avoid damaged produce

It’s also a good idea to look for undamaged fruit. Damaged fruit, even if not yet ripe, can turn bad as soon as it ripens! Bruised bananas are a good example. When choosing bananas, make sure that you check them thoroughly for any kind of mishandling. Bruises will turn the flesh of the fruit black beneath the skin without you even realising it.

If you notice that your fruit is starting to spoil, you need to remove these fruits from the bowl or basket immediately. The saying, “One rotten apple spoils the bunch” is no lie! As soon as one apple, pear, peach, or any other fruit starts to decay, the bacteria encroaches on other fruits and causes them to spoil too. If you have too much fruit and you don’t know what to do with it all, there are plenty of great preserving techniques from making jam or dried fruit to freezing.