North Star Orchard • Fruit Care 101

Fruit Care 101

Many people tell us that they always put fruit out in a fruit bowl...or else they'll forget to eat it! But most fruit does not keep well in a fruit bowl! A better solution, if you must keep some out, is to just keep out what you plan to eat that day and replace it with fruit from the fridge when needed.

In addition to that general rule of thumb, we offer some individual care recommendations for our different types of fruit...

Asian Pears

Refrigerate and humidify (keep in a loosely closed plastic bag). No extra ripening time is needed. Asian pears, like apples, should not be left in a fruit bowl for more than a day or two, and they are best eaten straight out of the fridge.

Very large Asian pears can be cut in halves or quarters...storing the extra wrapped in plastic wrap. Asian pears generally do not turn brown when they are cut, like apples and peaches do.

Some Asian pears (Olympic in particular) develop internal discoloration of the flesh. This is caused by excess sugar in the fruit flooding out into the intercellular spaces. Although it may not look pretty, it is just fine (and very sweet!) to eat.

Apples

Refrigerate and humidify. No extra ripening time is needed.

Early season varieties (before Oct. 1) should be kept refrigerated, as they will quickly lose their crunchiness if kept at room temperature.

Late season varieties (after Oct. 1) may be kept in a fruit bowl for a couple of days if desired...they may gain a bit of sweetness and flavor, but will lose some of their crunch.

European Pears

Keep at room temperature to ripen. To delay ripening, refrigerate and humidify.

To ripen, place on the counter or in a fruit bowl. Early season varieties will usually ripen in 1 - 3 days, while later season varieties will take 1 - 7 days to develop their full buttery texture and proper flavor.

Test ripeness daily by trying to slightly indent the fruit near the stem end with gentle pressure from your thumb. Feel for a bit of 'give'.

To stagger ripening, so you don't have a bunch of pears ripening all at once, keep some pears refrigerated while others are on the counter ripening.

When fully ripened, use the fruit promptly or refrigerate for a day or two. Refrigerating for longer than that tends to turn a fully ripened pear 'grainy'.

Peaches and Nectarines

Our peaches are picked tree ripe, and will generally achieve the desired texture/softness in 1 to 3 days on the counter. We can tell you at market how close they are, and how long they'll take to soften up.
Keep at room temperature to allow the peaches to soften. To delay softening, refrigerate and humidify.
To soften, keep the peaches on the counter or in a fruit bowl. Some people put peaches in a brown paper bag to hasten the process. That is fine, provided you remember that they are in the bag! We prefer to keep ours in the open where we can see them and check on their softness.
To test the firmness, you can thumb test a peach on the cheek of the fruit in the same way that you test European pears by the stem.
As with European pears, part of a weekly supply can usually be refrigerated and then brought out later in the week to soften.
While some people say that you should never refrigerate peaches, we have found this only to be true with peaches that have been picked 'too green'. Many commercial orchards pick fruit too early. Then, the fruit 'shuts down' when it is refrigerated, and further ripening does not occur. When picked tree-ripe, as our peaches are, the fruit continues the ripening process even when it is cold... although refrigeration does delay the process. You can refrigerate our peaches for a short period of time without losing much in the way of flavor or texture. It's certainly better to refrigerate a few, if you have too many, than to allow them to 'get ahead' of you at room temperature.

Plums

Store and allow to soften (if desired) in the same manner as peaches.
To test for softness, the whole fruit should be squeezed in the palm of your hand to see how much give it has.