Keeping fruits fresh

When you can't go grocery shopping everyday, you need to ensure that your goodies remain fresh for long. For those fruits to be tempting and endearing even after days you got them home, here's what needs to be done: - As most fresh produce is temperature sensitive, it should be stored in the refrigerator. If your fridge is overcrowded, then make sure you keep it in the coolest part of your house. - Apples, pears, strawberries, plums nectarines and peaches should be placed on the refrigerator shelves in perforated plastic bags. This helps arrest water forming inside the bag. - Citrus fruits and passionfruit lose water easily when kept in the fridge. Hence, try wrapping them in shrinkwrap. - Conversely, some produce, particularly those from the tropics, like pineapple and bananas, are chill sensitive and should not be stored in the refrigerator. - Also, berries need to be stored unwashed and whole. Otherwise, they tend to soak up too much water and rot faster, plus they will taste watery. - Some fruits need a bit of ripening. For this, you need to keep them out. These fruits include pineapple, bananas, mangoes and pears. So do nectarines, plums etc. - When storing a lot of fruits, check for overripe and injured fruit regularly. Remove any rotting fruit as it will lead others to rot.