How to pick perfect produce

There’s nothing quite like the biting into an apple plucked straight from the tree. Or is there? While fresh picked is a plus for highly perishable corn or peas, which lose their sweetness quickly, every crop is different. With proper storage after harvesting, growers can often keep some fruits and vegetables looking and tasting good for a year. That’s the reason why you can buy a Washington State Fuji apple in March every bit as luscious as the day it left the orchard in October.

The crucial time in the quality chain is immediately after harvesting, and quality can deteriorate quickly without gentle handling, refrigeration, and careful control of the storage atmosphere and humidity.

You might not be able to preserve that field-fresh flavor forever, but we have tips to help you size up and extend the longevity of a handful of notoriously finicky fruits and vegetables. First, choose a supermarket like Wegmans, The Fresh Market, or Whole Foods Market, which makes quality produce a top priority. Next, follow these guidelines:

Bananas

They’re picked before they’re ready to eat, then stored in giant sealed rooms filled with ethylene gas that jumpstarts the natural ripening process. If you buy a banana that’s too green, it might never ripen. Once it’s deep yellow, however, quality can tail off quickly. You can halt the ripening process by placing the banana in the fridge. The skin will blacken, but the color won’t affect the flesh.

Worried about pesticides in your produce? Consumer Reports has important information.

Cauliflower

Left unrefrigerated at any stage and the snow-white vegetable will develop brown spots. That’s an automatic don’t buy; it means the cauliflower is about to turn bad.

Tomatoes

Cold kills. Refrigeration causes the water inside the tomato to expand and individual cells to burst, resulting in a mealy taste and texture, according to the Florida Tomato Committee. In addition, a tomato produces a flavor enzyme as it ripens. When the fruit’s temperature drops below 55, the enzyme stops producing additional flavor. The longer the tomato is kept cold, the more the existing flavor will deteriorate. At home, store the tomatoes stem side up to avoid bruising to the delicate “shoulders.”

Strawberries

They’re supposed to be picked fully ripe, and no further ripening takes place, the California Strawberry Commission says. So avoid berries with a white top or tip; They’re spots that didn’t ripen – and never will. Look for a bright red color, a natural shine and fresh looking green caps. Keep the berries refrigerated (ideally in their original carton) and dry, and they should last three to five days. Wash gently just before eating. They’ll taste much sweeter if eaten at room temperature.

Pineapple

This is another fruit that’s picked ripe. The leaves in the crown should be fresh and green, the body firm. Color is not an accurate indicator of internal ripeness, nor is the ease with which the leaves pull out. Color is only a guide because growers use different varieties grown under different conditions. Fruit imported from Latin America, for instance, is grown under tropical conditions and will be more green and ripe compared to those from Hawaii, which tend to turn yellowish as they ripen.

Michael Conway, agricultural manager for Dole, says medium to large size fruit is generally best. The “eyes” or irregular segments that comprise the skin or shell of the fruit, should be large and flat rather than small and pointed. Thump the fruit a couple times using a snapping action with the thumb and index finger. You want to hear a hollow sound, which indicates firm flesh rather than dull thud which means the internal flesh is watery.

Avoid fruit with a moldy spot on the stem end. This is a good barometer of freshness or how long the fruit has been sitting on the shelf. And finally, smell the base for a pleasant aroma of pineapple. If there is no or only a faint aroma than the fruit might not be ripe. On the other hand an overly sweet smell would suggest the fruit is overripe.

Avocados

They ripen—or soften—after harvesting. Firm or green fruit can take four to five days to ripen at room temperature. Refrigeration can slow the process. To speed it up, place the avocados in a brown paper bag with an apple for a few days. The bag will help trap the gasses produced by the fruits to expedite ripening. The advice comes from the Hass Avocado Board. Hass is one of the most common avocado varieties. Color isn’t always the best indicator of ripeness. Pressure is the optimal gauge. If the avocado yields to firm but gentle fingertip pressure, the Hass folks say, it’s ready to eat. If it feels mushy or quote soft, it might be past its prime.

Watermelon

Unlike some other melons, watermelons are fragrance free. The Watermelon board recommends choosing a melon that’s heavy for its size (92 percent of a watermelon is water), firm, symmetrical, and free from bruises, cuts, and dents. The key indicator of ripeness is a buttery yellow spot identifying where it sat in the field, according to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension. A white or green underside means it was picked too soon. The organization doesn’t put too much stock in the “thump and shake” method of judging ripeness.

Cantaloupe

Color, softness, and fragrance are keys to maturity. A ripe cantaloupe won’t have a stem attached. A slight indentation at the stem end suggests the melon separated easily from the vine, another good sign, as is a bit of give when you press the blossom end. The color of the skin behind the veins or “netting” on the rind should be golden not green. Like a watermelon, a good cantaloupe should be heavy for its size. And it ought to have a notably sweet aroma at the blossom end.

Peaches

They shouldn’t have a green appearance, which reveals the fruit was picked prematurely. The South Carolina Peach Council says to look for a background hue that’s a creamy shade of yellow. “Do not be fooled by a heavily blushed color,” according to the Council. “This red coloring is only an indicator of the type of peach and is a result of the amount of sunlight the fruit received while on the tree.” At the store, scope out those that are fragrant and firm ripe, meaning they give a little when you carefully press the fruit with your palm. Peaches can be stored on a counter or shelf until they are ready to eat; then refrigerate them. Never store ripening or firm fruit in the fridge; It will turn the peach into a “dry, brown, mealy-tasting mess,” the Council says.

—Tod Marks

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