If you receive a fresh fruit hamper or you buy your favourites from your local market, one thing is for sure – you want to store them just right. Not all fruit has the same properties which means that you need to know how to choose your fruit and how to store it in order to ensure it stays fresher for longer. Here are some essential tips.

Fruits can ripen after picking

Certain types of fresh fruit continue to ripen after they have been picked. For this reason, it is not recommended that you refrigerate them before they have fully ripened. Some fruits that should be allowed to ripen at room temperature include:

  • Apricots
  • Honeydew
  • Cantaloupes
  • Bananas
  • Guava
  • Mangos
  • Kiwis
  • Passion Fruit
  • Nectarines
  • Pineapples
  • Peaches
  • Plums
  • Pears
  • Quinces
  • Star fruit

Fruits that do not continue to ripen

There are also some types of fresh fruit that will not continue to ripen once picked. For this reason, you should buy them when they are ripe. You should also refrigerate them and eat them as soon as possible. If you have a large quantity, You might like to freeze some to use in smoothies, for example.

  • Blueberries
  • Cherries
  • Blackberries
  • Strawberries
  • Cranberries
  • Litchis
  • Raspberries
  • Figs
  • Grapes

Fridge or not

There are also some types of fresh fruit that can be stored in or out the fridge and it will not affect their appearance, flavour or texture. Some examples include:

  • Apples
  • Limes
  • Grapefruit
  • Watermelon
  • Lemons
  • Oranges
  • Clementines
  • Tangerines

How some fruit impacts the rest

While a colourful fresh fruit bowl will look lovely, it’s not always good to place certain fruits near one another. Some fruits release a type of gas that causes other fruit to ripen faster and spoil faster too. Bananas are a great example of this. They can help avocados ripen quickly but they can also cause other fruit and flowers to perish quickly.

Now that you know how to store fresh fruit, you never need to let anything spoil ever again! Remember, if you have a lot of fruit, there are ways of preserving it in jars, by making jam or even freezing.