When buying fruit, how can you tell if it's ripe/ready to eat or not??

Specifically, how can you tell you're getting good grapes, apples and oranges? (bananas I can tell easily..lol)

Eat them. Wait a couple days. If you get violently ill, they probably weren't any good.

Oranges should have a little give to them when you squeeze them in your hand...also, the skin should be a bright orange.
Apples should have no or very little green skin and be very firm to the touch.
Grapes should be blemish/bruise free and firm...also, tightly connected to the stem.

hope this helps

Lammastide said:

Is it too late at that point to return them to the store, then??...

Byron said:

Nah... I know some spots that'll repackage and sell anything.

applekisses said:

Cool... I bought a few oranges the other day, and while trying to peel them the skin just would NOT come off...all the oranges I'd bought before peeled very easily, and the oranges themselves were great. So, I wasn't sure why this was happening, plus the oranges weren't as sweet this time.. But they looked the same as the others I had bought in the past (or so I thought)...

Also, do I actually pull a grape off of the stem to see how tightly connected it is??...

From Weekend Update with Norm MacDonald:

"The Artist Formerly Known as Prince is now going by just 'The Artist.' Despite this, I will still refer to him as, 'The Fruit.' "

I love Norm MacDonald!

Lammastide said:

Byron said:

You're so cute

Well...I've found that the sweetest oranges have the thickest skins...so next time you're at the store really feel them...if you squeeze a bit and feel it has a thin skin...pass it up...look for the ones that have the thick skin.
The grapes...you can tell by looking at them if they're ready to fall off the stems...plus, they'll be very plump

This is for you...



Split me open
With devotion
You put your hands in
And rip my heart out
Eat the music

Does he conceal
What he really feels?
He's a woman at heart
And I love him for that
Let's split him open

Like a pomegranate
Insides out
All is revealed
Not only women bleed

Take the stone out
Of the mango
You put it in your mouth
And pull a plum out

Take a papaya
You like a guava?
Grab a banana
And a sultana
Rip them to pieces
With sticky fingers
Split the banana
Crush the sultana

Split 'em open
With devotion
You put your hands in
And rip their hearts out

Like a pomegranate
Insides out
He's a woman at heart
And love him for that

Take a papaya
You like a guavva?
Grab a banana
And a sultana
Rip 'em to pieces
With sticky fingers
Split the banana
Crush the sultana

All emotion
And with devotion
You put your hands in
What ya thinking?
What am I singing?
A song of seeds
The food of love
Eat the music

applekisses said:

That's, um, violent...yet touching..

Byron said:

Don't forget to wash all your fruit with soap and water. Recently there was salmonella (I know the spelling is wrong) poisoning on some fruit, can't remember what it was though. You should wash everything, even oranges...they spray fruit with so many chemicals now.
[Edited 1/28/05 12:22pm]

CarrieLee said:

With soap??... Do I need one of those Brillo pad doohickeys as well??...

Would something like an orange be protected by its thick skin, which we don't eat anyway??...

Byron said:

Yep, with soap. Just fill the sink with warm water and a little dish soap. I asked my boss about this (she's a biologist) and she said you should wash everything, even fruits like oranges because most of the time you peel and eat right away...unless you peel and then wash your hands good and then eat them. If you just rinse it's not getting rid of the sometimes harmful chemicals on them. I was shocked too...but it makes sense.

I went into a 24hr grocery store this morning and it was ridiculous! I wanted a banana and they were all green. I had to wait nearly all day to eat the damn thing.

I think you can basically tell when a fruit is overripe and withered. The fact is to not put some fruits such as bananas, and stone based fruits to ripen in a fridge because if you do it will never ripen. Refrigeration stops the natural ripening process. Yet with more acidic based fruits such as apples and strawberries you should put in the fridge straight away.

I think that if a fruit is ripe to your satisfaction, store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat it. If it is still underripe, reseal the bag it came in and leave it a while to breah. This is because apples for example give off a natural gas that halts ripening. The apple, however, does not know when the fruit is ripe. If you forget about the bag of fruit, it will go from underripe to rotten in a few days. Fruit of cause never gets sweeter or better with age. It just deteriorates or rots as bananas do.

CarrieLee said:

I use some stuff called Fit to wash my produce. It's made specifically for it.


http://www.tryfit.com/


You can get it at the grocery store.

CarrieLee said:

Ooooh, I dint tink of that... I will do that from now on.

JDINTERACTIVE said:

I figured that out the hard way...lol...put an underripe banana in the fridge, it stays underripe for freakin' ever....take it out and leave it on the counter or kitchen table, and it's ripe in like 15 minutes..

applekisses said:

Cool...I'll look for that next time I'm at the store..

CarrieLee said:

U could also soak grapes etc is salt water, then rinse with fresh water....

grapes are super easy ... i open them and eat a couple before EVER buying them

ReturnOfDOOK said:

Norm!

Mach said:

I'd feel too guilty doing that..lol..

applekisses said:

What about green apples?

Heavenly said:

There's a green one in the photo up there, too...

I rarely buy fruit, it grosses me out for some reason But if you eat a lot of veggies you still get all the stuff you need, right?

CalhounSq said:

only if you eat them while standing on your head

Heavenly said:

WHEW!

applekisses said:

Bright orange? Probably GM oranges though right?

We can't get proper oranges here, unless we buy the ridiculously expensive imported ones. We do get some tangerine/satsuma type things. The skin is always green and yellow though.

My personal favourite fruit is rambutan. Anyone else like this fruit? They're like lychees but better. Harder to peel though.