Non-Refrigerated Fruits Suggested by Farmers: Four Varieties to Keep at Room Temperature
Summertime treats are a delight, and nothing beats sinking your teeth into a luscious, succulent peach fresh from the tree. It's tough for Southerners to stomach a mealy, rock-hard peach from the fridge - we know how good it can get!
While some fruits benefit from refrigeration, a significant number thrive at room temperature. We chatted with Ellerslie McCue, the Marketing and Communications Manager for the North Carolina Agricultural Commissioner, and Michelle McKenzie, a farmer at Bellair Farm in Virginia, to gather some fun facts about fruit storage. It's essential to know these nuances, especially when you're juggling iced sweet tea all summer long!
Fruits That Don't Need Refrigeration
When it comes to fruit storage, the rules aren't as strict as they are for vegetables. The preference for not refrigerating veggies revolves mainly around taste preferences, as the closer the fruit is to room temperature, the sweeter it'll taste. That's why ripe peaches and fresh berries are so delicious!
Stone fruit: Stone fruits like peaches, plums, apricots, and pluots can turn mealy in the fridge. They do well in a cool, dry spot on the counter. For optimal freshness, store them stem side down, and avoid stacking them.
Apples: Apples might stay fresher for longer in the cold temperatures of the fridge, but they don't need it.
Bananas, pineapples, and fruits with a tough exterior**: Fruits with a hard exterior, such as bananas and pineapples, ripen faster at room temperature.
Citrus: While you can chill clementine cuties if you prefer them cold, they don't need to be refrigerated.
Farmers' Tips For Storing Fruit
Even though technically a stone fruit, berries like blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries have sensitive, delicate flesh and are best kept chilled. McKenzie recommends consuming them within three days for optimal freshness and taste.
McCue suggests washing berries well by letting them sit in a solution of one cup vinegar to three cups water to maintain freshness. After that, dry them off, and place them in a container lined with paper towels.
While tomatoes are technically classified as a fruit, they are often treated as a vegetable. Tomatoes should be kept at room temperature until they reach peak ripeness. Refrigeration might make them mealy if done too soon.
Enrichment Data:Tomatoes can be stored at room temperature until overly ripe, and refrigeration can make them mealy if done too soon[1][3]. Unripe bananas and pineapples should be stored at room temperature to allow them to ripen fully[4]. Avocados should also be stored at room temperature until ripe, since refrigeration can halt the ripening process[4]. Underripe melons can be stored at room temperature to ripen and sweeten before moving to the refrigerator to extend their shelf life[1][4].
- Ellerslie McCue, the Marketing and Communications Manager for the North Carolina Agricultural Commissioner, suggests washing berries by letting them sit in a solution of one cup vinegar to three cups water to maintain freshness.
- stone fruit like peaches, plums, apricots, and pluots can turn mealy in the fridge and do well in a cool, dry spot on the counter.
- When it comes to fruit storage, the kitchen assistant should know that citrus fruits such as clementines don't need to be refrigerated but can be chilled if preferred cold.
- Michelle McKenzie, a farmer at Bellair Farm in Virginia, recommends consuming berries like blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries within three days for optimal freshness and taste, as they are best kept chilled due to their sensitive, delicate flesh.
