Summer Fruits
Tis the season for fresh fruit! Stone fruits are at their seasonal best in July and August. These fruits, peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and cherries should give a sweet fragrance, be plump and dark in color. Look for fruits heavy for their size and those that yield slightly to gentle pressure. Don’t purchase peaches and nectarines that have a green undertone; they were picked prematurely. Enjoy immediately after purchase or refrigerate stone fruits for up to five days.
Orange- you glad it’s summer? Pick your lemons, limes and oranges wisely! Look for these summer citruses to be heavy for their size. Go for yellow! Even though green is a pretty color for limes, the small, yellow key limes are actually a sweeter fruit than the common green limes. Valencia oranges are at their sweetest in the summer. These oranges make the best fresh- squeezed OJ. When picking grapefruit, size doesn’t matter- it’s location, location, location! Though Texas usually stocks their shelves with California-grown varieties, Florida grapefruits are sweeter and much less pulpy. If you can get your hands on a southern- bred Florida variety, try it!
Done with the fruit? What to do with the peel?? A fresh fruit peel is a garbage disposal’s perfume! Turn on your disposal and drop left over peels in. It will freshen up the lovely “disposal smell,” emitting a fruity scent!
Citrus fruits, pineapples, berries, grapes, watermelon and cherries don’t get any riper once they have been picked, they just go bad. As soon as you bring them home from the store, stash them in the fridge! Do not wash them until you are ready to eat; any excess water on the fruit when stored in the fridge can cause quicker molding.
Did you know? A cup of strawberries has more vitamin C than an orange!
A cup of blackberries has as much vitamin C as a big, juicy tomato!
Got a banana about to go bad? Have the strawberries been in the fridge almost a week? Don’t waste your ripened fruit! Slice fruit and store in a freezer bag. For a quick and healthy smoothie snack, empty the frozen fruit bag into a blender, add half a cup of milk and blend. Indulge in an extra treat by adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream or half a cup of yogurt to your fruit smoothie. For extra kick, pineapple, orange or apple juice gives your smoothie that extra fruity kick! Try a strawberry & ice cream (or yogurt) smoothie with a squeeze of chocolate syrup on top- delicious!
