Cooking Hints and Tips
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Apples When buying apples, look for firm, bright, bruise-free fruit. Overripe apples will feel soft and the texture will be mealy or mushy. To prevent peeled apples from discoloring, sprinkle with lemon, orange or lime juice. To freeze, just peel, core, slice and coat apples wtih lemon juice. Place in an airtight container. Store apples in the refrigerator (away from strong-smelling foods to prevent them from absorbing unpleasant odors) in perforated plastic bags to prevent them from drying out. Check them often. Remove any decayed apples. One rotten apple can indeed spoil the whole barrel! Depending on the condition when purchased, apples should last anywhere from two to three months. (At room temperature, apples will last only a week). Apples keep longer if you make sure they don't touch one another. When baking apples, add apple juice instead of water to the pan for extra flavor. To easily core apples, cut a whole apple into quarters. Then use a paring knife to cut away core from each quarter slice. Traditional slicing methods call for quartering and coring apples. Another way is to shave off slices from the outside with a paring knife, turning the apple in quarter turns. Continue slicing until you reach the core, and then discard the core. If you need to peel the apple, always do so before cutting up the apple. If you need to core an apple, a melon baller is the best tool to use. Cut the apples in half, and then use the large side of melon baller; it will remove the core and seeds and leave an even, circular hole. Prick the skin of apples a few times with the tip of a paring knife before baking to keep them from bursting. To keep baked apples from shrinking, remove a horizontal slice of peel from around the middle. If using apples in fruit salad, combine them with citrus fruits such as oranges. Squeeze some of the orange juice over the diced apples and then toss them with the orange sections. The juice will keep the apples from darkening. Types of Apples:
Apricots The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a member of the rose family, along with peaches, plums, cherries, and almonds. The word apricot comes from the Latin praecocia meaning "precocious" or "early ripening." It first appeared in English print in 1551. Look for plump, fairly firm fruit with an orange-yellow to orange color. Fully ripe fruit is soft to the touch, juicy and should be eaten as soon as possible. Keep apricots cool to prevent over ripening. Store ripe apricots in the refrigerator where they may keep for up to a week. Place hard apricots in a paper bag and let ripen for a day or two. To freeze fresh apricots, simply half the fruit and place on baking sheet until frozen. Then pack in a plastic freezer bag. Avoid green fruit which will not ripen. Asian Pears Although technically a member of the pear family, this fruit more closely resmebles an apple in shape and texture. Crisp, grainy, sweet and juicey, Asian pears are a pleasure to eat. Varying from golden globes to small green balls, there are over 100 varieties. Some may have smooth skin, while others are dappled with russet spots. Unlike European pears, ripe Asian pears are hard. Choose the most fragrant pears you can find. Store ripe pears in the refrigerator. They will last for weeks. Asian pears may be eaten peeled or unpeeled. All but the slim center core is edible. If they are to be eaten raw, serve them chilled. When cooked, the flavor of Asian pears intensifies, while the flesh remains firmer thant that of other cooked pears. Avocados Select avocados that yield to gentle pressure. When planning for later use, look for avocados which are more firm. Storing below 40°F or above 70 degrees F will cause rot. Some varieties will spoil below 50 degrees. Ripen at room temperature (60 - 70 °F), then store at 45°F. Avocados will not ripen on the tree. They must be picked from the tree to initiate ripening. The leaves supply a substance that prevents ripening. The best way to store avocados is to leave them on the tree; they will store for 7 months or more when left on the tree. Let avocados ripen outside the refrigerator. When still firm but with a slight give when gently squeezed, they are ripe. Brown streaks within are perfectly fine. To seed an avocado cut the avocado in half. Hit the seed with the sharp edge of a knife. Grasp the fruit, then twist the knife to loosen and remove the seed. To easily peel an avocado, insert a knife into the tip end of a whole avocado until the knife reaches the pit. Rotate the knife around the pit until avocado is cut in half. Gently pull apart by twisting the two halves. Score avocado skin in thirds, cutting just to, but not into, the flesh of the avocado. Using a paring knife, pull back the center strip of the avocado peel, then pull back the two side strips of peel. For avocado slices, using the tip of your knife, make four shallow lengthwise slits in the skin from end to end. Pinching one corner of the skin between the knife blade and your thumb, gently pull it away from the avocado, almost as you would peel a banana. Repeat to remove all four sections of the skin. Then cut the flesh off the pit in lengthwise wedges. To dice avocado, first cut the fruit in half lengthwise with a single cut to the pit, rotating the fruit 360 degrees while cutting. Twist the halves in opposite directions; the pit will separate from one half. Sink the blade into the pit and gently rotate the knife; the pit will pop out of the second half. Using the tip of the knife, make a series of parallel cuts through the avocado flesh but not through the skin. They should be half an inch apart. Now, make another series of cuts at a 90 degree angle to the first. Use a spoon to scrape the avocado out of the skin. The flesh will come out in neat dice. To prevent avocado slices or pulp from turning brown, toss or sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of lemon or lime juice. To store a cut avocado, allow the seed to remain embedded, spread the edges with mayonnaise, soft butter or cream, cover well with wax paper or plastic, and refrigerate. To avoid discoloring of leftover avocado, keep the pit in the unused half, cover with plastic and store in refrigerator. Bananas Among the banana plant's most remarkable features is that, despite its average height of 30 feet (about 9 meters), it is actually a perennial herb related to the orchid and lily. It bears huge, podlike purple flowers, and its individual long, slender fruits, or fingers, are technically berries. The banana is believed to have originated in Malaysia. Today, the world's greatest producers of bananas include Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, India, Brazil, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Although about 30 different varieties of bananas exist, North Americans are mostly familiar with three types: the blunt-ended Cavendish; the Gros Michel, known by its tapered ends; and the starchy plantains, which is used only for cooking as a vegetable. There are also dwarf or "baby" bananas and red bananas, among the other varieties. Because bananas emit a gas that promotes ripening, placing an unripe banana in a paper bag or breathable container with other produce will encourage the produce to ripen more quickly. Bananas are ripe when the skin is bright yellow. They are underripe when green, and overripe when brown and mushy. Mash overripe bananas, add a little lemon juice to keep them from turning brown, and freeze. Thaw for use in cakes or breads. Place them in the freezer, peel and all. When you need to use them, all you do is remove, thaw them and squeeze them into the bowl. They are already pureed. Bananas are loaded with potassium, an important mineral that, along with sodium, helps control the water balance in the body. To get the best bananas, choose them at any stage of ripeness, from green to yellow. Ripen them at room temperature until they have a very healthy yellow color. Very ripe bananas are brown and make excellent breads and cakes. Once bananas are ripe store them in the refrigerator to help slow down ripening. The skin will turn dark brown, but this does not damage the fruit inside. Use bananas with blackened skin. Peel and freeze them with other ripe fruit. Blend them with some fruit juice to make a slush. To stop browning of bananas without using acid pour boiling water over an unpeeled banana and leave it in the water for a couple of minutes. This will destroy the enzymes that cause browning without actually cooking the fruit. I tried it, and it worked. The appearance will change very slightly after they had been left sliced for hours but there will be no yucky brown. When bananas get too ripe to eat peel them and freeze them in a large ziploc freezer bag. Then when you want to bake a cake substitute the banana for oil, butter or margarine. Use about the equivalent amount or slightly more (if the recipe calls for a stick of butter use a hunk of banana about as long as a stick of butter). They thaw quickly in the microwave and mash easily with an electric mixer. RED BANANAS: A variety of banana, with a reddish-purple skin, that is shorter and plumper than the traditional Cavendish banana. Raw red bananas have a flesh that is cream to light pink in color, a strong banana flavor with a hint of strawberry and are sweeter than the yellow Cavendish varieties. The red banana is at its peak ripeness when some black spots have begun to appear on the reddish-purple skin. When ripe, their texture is somewhat soft, making them less of a good quality eating banana. Grown in South America and Asia, this fruit can be used in salads or fruit compotes, but is most often used as a baking banana. Red bananas are also known as Jamaican bananas. Berries Berries should be firm and colorful. Because they spoil rapidly, eat them as soon as possible after purchase. The little sacs that make up the berry should be big and plump and have a nice sheen. If you can't use very ripe or fragile berries within 2 days, puree them into a sauce. If the berries you intend to use for a recipe are sour, stir them with sugar and allow to stand at room temperature for at least an hour. Use 1-2 tablespoons of sugar per cup of berries. To clean fresh berries, place fresh berries in colander and gently rinse with a cold water spray. Wash berries just before ready to use. Place rinsed berries on paper towels to dry. Blueberries Fresh blueberries from Texas may be purchased in supermarkets from May through July, while frozen blueberries are available year-round for both the food service and consumer markets. When buying blueberries from your supermarket look for berries that are firm and plump. Berries should be relatively free of stems and leaves. Moisture causes berries to mold so fruit should be dry. The berries a uniform blue color. Reddish berries are not ripe but are acceptable for use in baking. Berries stored for too long will begin to look shriveled or wrinkled from dehydration. After purchasing your blueberries they should be stored covered in your refrigerator. Do not wash blueberries until just prior to use. If served fresh, blueberries should be used within 10 days of purchase. Blueberries can be frozen right in the pint container they are normally packaged in. Just wrap the entire container plastic wrap being careful to cover all holes. Freeze fresh blueberries in a single layer on a tray, then transfer to freezer containers. Blueberries contain vitamins A & C, iron, potassium and magnesium. They are a good source of carbohydrates and fiber, yet they are low in sodium and cholesterol free. One more piece of good news...blueberries only contain 42 calories per half-cup serving. Always add blueberries last and stir gently or they will bleed. Do not wash blueberries until ready to use. Blueberries may change color when cooked. The blue pigment in the berries may turn red in acids (lemon juice and vinegar). Blueberries also contain yellow pigments. In an alkaline environment, such as a batter with too much baking soda, the yellow and blue pigments will turn the blueberries greenish-blue. Using hard, frozen blueberries in batters will reduce the amount of color streaking. For pancakes and waffles, add the blueberries as soon as the batter has been poured on the griddle or waffle iron. This will give the product a better appearance and make it easier to turn. If frozen blueberries are used, increase cooking time to make sure the berries are heated thoroughly. Add frozen blueberries last to mixtures with other fruits. This way the blueberry juice will not color the other fruits. Store blueberries in the refrigerator in a single layer if possible in a moisture-proof container for up to five days. If berries are packaged, turn the box upside down to make sure there is no stain moisture on the bottom. This indicates overripe berries. 1 pint of fresh blueberries equals about 2 cups. Choose blueberries that are plump and firm and have a silver frosted indigo blue color. Cherries The United States is the world's biggest producer, consumer, and exporter of cherries. Sweet cherries (Bing, Lamberts and Ranier varieties) are grown on the West Coast with Washington being the largest producer. California is next, followed by Oregon. Tart cherries (Early Richmaon, Montmorency and English Morellos varieties) are grown primarily in Michigan, where the Grand Traverse Bay area provides perfect conditions: good elevation, dependable rainfall, high humidity, and sandy soil with good drainage. Tart cherries are also grown commercially in New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin. The favorite sweet cherry varieties in the Western United States are the Bing, Lambert, and Ranier. In the East it's the Windsor, Schmidt, Victor, Napoleon, and Black Tartarian. Recently, medical research is discovering that the pigments that give cherries their beautiful deep dark red color can also help ease the pain of arthritis. These pigments contain natural dyes called anthocyanins which lab testing on tart cherries have shown that they give ten times the anti-inflammatory relief of aspirin, without irritating the stomach. They are also potent antioxidants. Fruit should be clean, bright, shiny, and plump with no blemishes. Sweet cherries should have firm, but not hard flesh, while sour cherries should be medium-firm. The darker the color, the sweeter the cherry. Avoid cherries with cuts, bruises, or stale, dry stems. You'll find stemmed cherries less expensive, but know that cherries with the stems intact will have a longer shelf life. It is very important to store cherries in the coldest part of your refrigerator, usually near the back. The cold storage of cherries will help protect the texture and flavor from the effects of warm summer temperatures. Cherries can decay more in one hour at room temperature than they can in twenty-four hours at 32°F. The rule of thumb with cherries, as with berries, is not to wash the fruit until you ready to use it. This will help to preserve the cherries. Store unwashed cherries in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, and wash just before eating. Before eating fresh sweet cherries, leave them out on the counter for a few hours as the flavor is much better at room temperature. Fresh cherries should be consumed within two to four days. Allow one cup serving of sweet cherries per person when calculating quantities, less for sour cherries. Freeze whole, pitted sweet cherries in 40 percent syrup (4 cups water plus 3 cups sugar) with 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid added per quart of liquid. They can also be pitted and frozen without liquid in plastic bags with all the air removed. Some cooks prefer to freeze separated cherries on a cookie sheet and then pack in bags for freezing. To freeze sour cherries for pie filling, stir 3/4 cup of sugar into each quart of pitted, whole sour cherries. Pack in rigid airtight containers with 1/2-inch headspace or airtight bags. Frozen cherries will last ten to twelve months in the freezer. Don't be put off if Rainer cherries have some skin discoloration in the form of scuffing or brown spots. That's often a sign of high sugar content. A simple way to remove the pits from cherries is to use a straightened paper clip. Press it into the cherry, stem side, then down under the pit and lift up. The paper clip and cherry pit should come out together, leaving the cherry basically intact. To see if cherries have worms in them... place them in water. If they float they have worms in them. Sweet Cherry Varieties
Cranberries are usually sold by the bag. Look for berries with bright, intense colors. Bagged berries may be kept for one month in the refrigerator or one year in the freezer. To get the best cranberries, avoid soft or bruised fruit. Refrigerate for up to four weeks or freeze for up to nine months. Before using, rinse and discard any berries that are shriveled or soft. Fresh cranberries will keep in the refrigerator for 4-8 weeks or you can freeze fresh cranberries for almost a year wrapped in an airtight bag. One pound of berries will yield about four cups and they're easy to find this time of year in the produce section of your grocery store. Look for plump, firm berries with a lustrous color for the best quality. Shortly before using, wash cranberries, pick through them and discard any that are soft, spongy, bruised or decaying. Adding 1 teaspoon of butter to each pound of cranberries when cooking eliminates foam and overboiling. Also, cook cranberries just until they pop to avoid a bitter taste. Grapefruits To section a grapefruit, remove the outer skin, pull into halves, and split the membranes. Pull the membrane down and around the outer base of the section. Let the released membrane hang loose. With your thumb, separate the section from the remaining membrane. Grapes Grapes are about 80 percent water, making them a tasty low-calorie snack or dessert; a cup of Concord or Catawba grapes contains only about 60 calories Grapes also add fiber to the diet and are naturally low in sodium. Look for firm, plump, well-colored clusters of grapes that are securely attached to their green stems. Fully ripe grapes are soft and tender. Grapes showing signs of decay, shriveling, stickiness, brown spots or dry brittle stems should be avoided. Blue Concord grapes are excellent for table use and for making juice and jelly. The large, purplish-red catawba variety is used primarily for making juice and wine, but can also be served fresh for eating. Common varieties include Thompson, Flame, Ruby, Perlette and Tokay grapes. Most U.S. grapes are grown in California. Fresh grapes maintain good quality for two to three days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered container or plastic bag. Just before use, wash grape clusters under a gentle spray of water, drain and pat dry. Table grapes are at their best served slightly chilled to enhance their crisp texture and refreshing flavor. Seedless grapes are used whole. For seeded grapes, remove seeds by cutting grapes into halves lengthwise and scooping out seeds with the point of a knife. Grapes are easier to peel when they're frozen. Just rinse frozen grapes in lukewarm water until skins split. Skins will then slip right off. When preparing small clusters of grapes for garnishing, cut the clusters with scissors. This helps keep the grapes attached to the stem. For longer storage, grapes can be canned, frozen or made into juice or sweet spreads to enhance meals throughout the year. Grapes can be dried as raisins for use as a snack or in baking. Freeze grape puree for use in making grape pie and to flavor yogurt. Tray freeze seedless grapes and store them in freezer containers. When summer temperatures sizzle, chill summer drinks with "grape" ice cubes. For an easy, refreshing summer dessert, serve tray frozen grapes in a chilled glass bowl. Grapes should always be washed before eating them. Given their natural composition, merely rinsing is not quite enough of an effort. Draw a large bowl of cold tap water and add several drops of liquid dishwashing detergent and agitate. Rinse grapes under running tap water, swirl around in the mildly soapy water, then rinse in running tap water. Let grapes drain on a thick terry towel. To get the health benefits of red wine without the alcohol, eat grapes. Red wine contains potent antioxidants that help prevent the cell damage implicated in heart disease, cancer and other age-related conditions. Red and purple grapes provide nearly the same amount of antioxidants. Ditto for Concord grape juice. Guavas Guava tastes like lime, kiwifruit, banana, and berries all rolled into one. Though the seeds are edible, they're usually discarded. Guavas deliver a burst of flavor when used with other fruits in salads, sauces or desserts. they have a strong scent that, when ripe, becomes tantalizing and intoxicating. Guavas come in a variety of shapes, flavors and colors. Some taste of honey, melon and strawberries. Guava is a nice accompaniment to baked striped bass, roast duck or pork. Guavas ripen quickly at room temperature, so look for fruit that is firm to the touch. The guava should have no bruises and a strong sweet smell. Use guavas as soon as they have ripened. Pureed guava is wonderful when mixed with whipped cream and served over pound cake. To puree guava, cut rinsed, unpeeled fruit into chunks. Puree in a blender. Force the fuit through a non-aluminum sieve. Discard seeds. Huckleberries Although related, blueberries and huckleberries are not the same. For one thing the blueberry has many soft, tiny almost unnoticeable seeds, while the huckleberry has ten larger, hard seeds. Blueberries are also more blue, while huckleberries are blackish blue or reddish black. This red/black variety is also called southern cranberry. Twelve species of huckleberries grow in Washington and Oregon. Some plants produce red berries, while other berries are blue. Some produce berries in clusters and others have single berries. The flavor is a little more tart than blueberries, with an intense blueberry flavor. Huckleberries are not cultivated commercially, so you will have to find them in the wild. The entire fruit is edible...no need to remove the seeds. Huckleberries can be used interchangeably in most blueberry recipes, so if you find yourself with a huckleberry harvest, just choose a blueberry recipe and give it a whirl. Huckleberry season is normally from June through August. To harvest a large quantity, spread a clean cloth on the ground and shake the plant; ripe fruits will drop onto the cloth. Store at temperatures just above freezing with high humidity. Key Limes Also known as "Mexican Limes" or "West Indian Limes". Key limes are small, somewhat larger than a walnut, oval in shape with a thin yellowish rind which is prone to splotchy brown spots. They are aromatic and very juicy, with a stronger and more complex acidic flavor than Persian limes. Both Persian and Key Limes have a higher sugar and citric acid content than lemons, and Key limes are more acidic than Persian. The peak season is during the summer, June through August, but they are available year-round from Mexico and Central America. Unless you live in the Florida Keys or are otherwise a Key Lime pie aficionado, in which case only limes grown in the Keys are acceptable as 'Key Limes'. Most (more than 90%) of the Key Limes increasingly found in supermarkets are grown in Mexico and Central America; they are also grown in Texas and California, where they are known as Mexican limes. Juice content is high, well over 40%. Skin should be light yellow and fine grained, like leather. Avoid any signs of decay, mold or blotchy, brown spots. Don't buy if skin is turning hard or shriveled. Store at 40º - 45º F. for two weeks maximum. Frozen juice keeps for two to three months. Bottled juice is available, but very inferior (especially for Key Lime Pie!). Kiwis To get the best kiwifruit, choose fruit that is free of bruises and soft spots. Ripen firm fruit by placing them in a small, clean paper bag. Loosely close the bag and store at room temperature and check fruit daily until ripe. Kiwifruit has a flavor reminiscent of strawberry, melon, and peaches. This fuzzy, brown-skinned fruit is entirely edible - skin, seeds, and all. The fuzzy brown skin on a kiwi fruit is edible and has no distinguishable flavor, but for appearance sake most people pare it away and eat only the green flesh. Kiwi is a great snack eaten raw out of hand. Rinse it, gently rub the skin with a cloth to remove excess fuzz and bite right in, Or cut the fruit in half and spoon it out like a melon. For fuzz-free eating, cut off the kiwifuit's top and bottom ends and remove its skin with a vegetable peeler. Use an egg slicer to cut uniform pieces for recipes or garnish. Use kiwifruit as a winter substitue for tomatoes in sandwiches, salads or salsa. Stir cut kiwifruit into pasta or chicken salads. Prepare pavlova, a popular dessert in Australia and New Zealand that consists of a meringue shell topped with fresh fruit, including kiwi. Containing the enzyme actinidin, kiwifruit is a natural tenderizer. Puree the fruit and rub on meat or poultry; refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking. One serving--two medium kiwifruit -- has 90 calories. Kiwi fruit cannot be used in gelatin salads or desserts because the papain enzyme prevents it from gelling. Kumquats This fruit is of Chinese origin; brilliant golden-orange color. Unlike other fruits, the skin is pungent and sweet, while the pulp is sharply acid. Select firm, dry, fully orange fruit with stems. The rounded variety is generally sweeter and mjilder than the oval. Rinse the kumquats in very hot water, then dry thoroughly. To prepare kumquats, stem, rinse and dry. For a mellow flavor, drop into boiling water for 20 seconds, then drain and chill in ice water. Dry and refrigerate. Lemons For just a drop or two of lemon juice, pierce lemon end with toothpick and gently squeeze. Use the toothpick as a plug and keep in fridge. Whenever you purchase fresh lemons for cooking, save the ends and the squeezed sections. Place them in a Ziploc bag as soon as possible, and then into the freezer. Then, when you have a recipe that calls for a small amount of grated lemon peel, you have it on hand. It saves buying another fresh lemon for only its peel and also, the lemons grate much more easily when still partially frozen. Grinding up lemon peels in the garbage disposal helps keep it smelling fresh. Mangoes To cut mangoes, slice mango into two pieces, just clearing the long flat seed. Then score the flesh in squares of desired size, cutting up to but not through the skin. Press skin so cut side pops outward, and slice cubes from skin. Mangoes should be ripened at room temperature until they give slightly when pressed. Mangosteen A small, slow-growing tree native to Malaysia which bears round fruit with four prominent sepals around the stem. The thick, dark purple shell protects small white segments which are thirst quenching, sweet with a hint of sourness, and delicious. A curious fact about mangosteens is that if you look at the blossom end there is always a scar in the shape of a flower. You can predict with certainty that there will be the same number of segments in the mangosteen as there are petals on the 'flower'. There are usually 5, 7 or 9, fruit with even numbers being quite rare. One or two of the segments will be twice the size of the others, and these contain soft seeds. Purchasing and storing: Look for shiny, undamaged fruit of deep purple colour with no trace of the yellow latex which indicates bruising. Store at room temperature and eat within a few days. Don't attempt to freeze mangosteens, it completely destroys them. Just eat and enjoy! Preparation: Opening a mangosteen is an acquired skill, the best way being to place it (stem upwards) between the palms, fingers clasped over the fruit, and exert gentle pressure until the shell cracks open. If serving them at the table it may be better to use a sharp knife and cut only through the shell around the middle of the fruit, leaving the segments whole. Never cut through the segments. Lift off the top and offer the fruit in its own reddish-purple half-shell, for best effect. Once the segments are taken from the shell they don't look quite as attractive. Melons When choosing a melon, pick one that has a sweet aromatic scent, not a strong smell that could indicate over ripeness. To ensure you have a ripe cantaloupe, choose one with a sweet, fruity fragrance that yields slightly when pressed at the stem end. It should be heavy for its size, have a thick, raised netting, and show no signs of bruising or decay. To pick a sweet cantaloupe, look for the one with small, tight netting on the skin and it should smell sweet. If the seeds rattle, it may be overripe. To purchase ripe melons, choose ones that feel heavy for their size. Avoid any that have soft spots or are shriveled. When ripe, cantaloupe and honeydew will yield slightly when pressed at the blossom end and their aroma will be sweet and perfumy. Watermelon should sound hollow when thumped on the side and the rind should be dull, evenly colored and just barely yield to pressure. Leaving a firm cantaloupe at room temperature for several days will allow the texture of its flesh to become softer and juicier. Once the cantaloupe has reached its peak ripeness, place it in the refrigerator to store. Melon that has been cut should be stored in the refrigerator as well and should be wrapped so as to ensure that the ethylene gas that it emits does not affect the taste or texture of other fruits and vegetables. Types of Melons:
Miscellaneous When picking fruits, look for plumpness, tenderness, and bright color. Fruits should be heavy for their size and free from mold, mildew, bruises, cuts, and other blemishes. To unstick dried dates, figs, cranberries, or raisins, place them in a low-temperature oven for a few minutes. To substitute dried fruit for fresh, use 1 pound reconstituted dried fruit for every 4 pounds of fresh. To separate sticky pieces of dried fruit, roll in hands with a bit of flour. To speed-soak dried fruit, place in a 2-cup measuring cup covered with water; cover with plastic wrap and microwave on High for 2 minutes. Let stand 3 minutes. Slightly bumped or bruised fruit shouldn't be wasted. Put the fruit in a blender with some vanilla yogurt or low fat ice cream, skim milk, crushed ice and a pinch of sugar. To squeeze the most juice from a lemon, lime, or orange, first roll the fruit on a hard surface, pressing with your hand. Or submerge the fruit in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. You can also heat the fruit in the microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Prevent apple, banana and avocado slices from browning by brushing lightly with ascorbic acid color keeper or lemon juice. To ripen fruits place them in a small, clean paper bag. Loosely close the bag and store it at room temperature. Check fruit daily and remove any that yields to gentle pressure. To blanch vegetables and fruits, plunge them into boiling water for a short period of time, and then immediately stop the cooking process by placing them into ice water until they are cool. For fun and fiber, sprinkle 1/4 cup of dried fruit pieces on your breakfast cereal. Try raisins, dried cranberries, cranberries, apples, or bananas. To get the most fiber from fresh fruits and vegetables, leave the skin on whenever possible. Don't add sugar to stewed fruits until they have boiled for 10 minutes. They need less sugar then. Carefully wipe your knife blade with vegetable oil before chopping raisins, dates, or other sticky dried fruit to prevent sticking. Allow fruits, especially grapes, plum, and pears, to ripen at room temperature before refrigerating to inprove the flavor. Dried fruit must be stored tightly covered in a cool, dark place. They will begin to deteriorate within a matter or months. Virtually all fresh fruits lose their flavor rapidly when soaked in water, so always wash them quickly in gently flowing water just before using and dry at once. For flambeed fruits, use at least 2 ounces of alcohol and remember that unless the temperature of the fruit is at least 75 degrees you may not get any effect at all. When your hands get stained from handling fresh fruit, pour on a little lemon juice, rub, and rinse. Lemon zest is the grated rind from the outside of a fresh lemon that holds much of flavor of the lemon without the acidity that is in the fruit. To get the zest, rub the skin across a very fine grater, making sure to remove only the outer rind and not the bitter white pithy part. When you grate a lemon, lime, or orange do not take off more than the highly colored outer coating; the white skin beneath is generally bitter. When a recipe requires lemon or orange zest and the skin is too soft to grate easily, put the fruit into the freezer for 10 minutes and it will be firm and easy to grate. Orange zest is often used in recipes for its elusive and delicate flavor. When using orange rind, take a vegetable parer and pare off the thin bright orange part of the rind that holds the flavorful oils. Do not discard rinds of grapefruit, oranges or lemons. Grate the rinds first, put in tightly covered glass jar and store in the refrigerator. Makes excellent flavoring for cakes, frostings and such. It's a cinch to retrieve all the grated citrus rind from the pore of the grater if you brush it out with a pastry brush or soft toothbrush. To grate lemon peel, move a whole lemon up and down on a grater side with small holes to remove ONLY the yellow part of skin, as the white part is bitter. Rotate and grate lemon until you have enough grated peel specified in recipe. You may also use this technique for grating oranges and limes. To make citrus zest strips, use a vegetable peeler to shave off topmost layer from an orange, lemon or lime peel in wide strips. With a sharp knife, cut the peel into narrow strips. To plump raisins or other dried fruit, soak them in liquid until they almost return to their natural state. Don't throw rock-hard dried raisins or currants away. Instead, reconstitute them by covering with cold water, bringing to a boil, then removing from the heat and letting stand for 5 minutes. Drain well before using. To cut dried fruits, dip kitchen scissors frequently into hot water so they don't get too sticky. Keep scissors from sticking to dried fruit when you cut it by spraying the scissors with cooking spray. Remove fruit stains from your hands by rubbing them with vinegar. To ripen fruit quickly (such as pears which take a long time to ripen) place the unripe fruit in a paper lunch sack along with a banana. Fold sack closed and check next day or two & fruit will be ripe & ready to eat! Works great. Keep bottled lemon or lime juice or strong acidulated water (2 tablespoons lemon juice per 1 quart water) in a spray mister in the refrigerator and spray on cut apples, avocados, peaches, and pears, etc., to prevent browning. Oranges The bulk of the naval orange harvest is from November through May, with peak supplies from January through March and some early availability in October from Texas. Valencias are sometimes called "summer" oranges because they peak in May, June and July, though they begin arriving in February and run through October. Some form of mandarin orange is available from November through April, though supplies can begin as early as mid-October and run into May. Blood oranges from California run mid-December through mid April. Jaffa oranges from Israel arrive in mid-winter. Australian imports are bunched almost entirely in July and August. All citrus fruits should be heavy for their size, indicating that they're full of juice. Lighter fruit has more skin and drier pulp. As Valencias ripen on the tree, they go from green to yellow-orange and then regain a little green tinge starting at the stem end as a result of chlorophyll returning to the peel. Don't confuse this "regreening", as it is called, with immaturity. In general, look for fruit with unblemished skin, absent of wrinkles, soft areas or mold. Florida and Texas sometimes use a dye to enhance the appearance of their fruit for the marketplace and therefore, must be stamped "color added." Make sure the skin of the oranges you select are nice and shiny. The shinier the skin, the fresher the fruit. (All citrus is waxed to replace natural wax that is removed during the washing process.) Store oranges in a cool place outside the refrigerator and try to use them within a few days. If keeping longer, refrigerate them in a plastic bag or in the vegetable crisper section of the refrigerator. Types of Oranges
To peel and section oranges, slice the end section off the orange. Peel away orange skin. Cut down against either side of membrane "dividers" with paring knife and lift out orange section. Do this over a bowl to catch the juice. Use this method for sectioning other citrus fruits such as grapefruit. You can peel oranges quickly and separate the sections cleanly if you cover them with boiling water. Let them stand for 5 minutes. Then drain, cool, and peel. Passion Fruit (granadilla, maracuja) This fruit has a stunning tropical-garden aroma hidden in a plain wrapper. The firm "shell" which looks a bit dented and dusky, holds a jumble of dark, slippery seeds and yellow-to-orange pulp that have remarkable flavoring power which compensates for the way they look. Chose the heaviest fruits for maximum pulp. Dark-purple fruit is ripe when wrinkled. It is generally the most intensely flavored. Tropical passion fruit is barely dimpled when ripe and is larger and juicier. To prepare, simply slice off the shell tips, as you would a soft-cooked egg, then spoon the pulp into a bowl, discarding the rest. Seeding is optional. Some people enjoy the crackly crunch, others do not. Peaches There are two main varieties: Freestones and Clingstones. Freestones: the pit is free from the fruit. This is more commonly found in supermarkets. Clingstones: the fruit clings to the pit. This peach is used more commercially. To choose a peach, check for a strong peach fragrance. The fruit should be firm, yet gives slightly to firm pressure. Due to the fact that peaches bruise easily, avoid any fruit with soft spots. Golden yellow peaches are divine. Any hint of green means they are not ready. Check for bruises. If you choose a peach, which has not ripened yet, place in a pierced brown paper bag for a couple of days. If you choose to add an apple, the ripening process will increase as apples release a certain gas that aids in other fruits ripening. Store your peaches in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator for 5 days. Allow any peach to warm up to room temperature before using. If you need to remove the pit, cut around the pit. While holding the fruit, twist the two halves in opposite directions. Use a knife to help loosen the pit from the fruit, and then remove with your fingers. To peel peaches, place whole peach in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from boiling water with slotted spoon and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Pull skin off using blade edge of paring knife to grab peel. Also use this method to peel other fruits such as apricots and tomatoes. Pears Pears do not ripen well on the tree so are picked when mature but not yet ripe. To ripen fresh pears at home, place in paper bag, fold over the top and keep at room temperature. In one to three days, the pears should be ripe. To test for ripeness, apply gentle thumb pressure to base of stem. If the fruit yields slightly, the pear is ripe and juicy. Use immediately or refrigerate. Skin color of pears is not an indicator of ripeness because skin color of some varieties does not change much as the pears ripen. Persimmons Persimmons resemble large orange tomatoes, but they have a wide, pale brown calyx on top. At their best, they are delicious, having a sweet honeyed flesh. However, unripe persimmons are almost inedible, being horribly sour! Care should be taken when buying this fruit, to make sure you get ripe ones. The fruit should look as though it is about to burst. Handle with care and eat immediately. Ripe Japanese (Fuyu) persimmons are ready to be eaten from the hand, including the skin, or cut in half (after chilling) and served with a spoon. Sharon Fruit is a non-astringent variety of persimmon, developed in the Sharon Valley in Israel. They are not as highly flavored as American persimmons, and beneift from a squeeze of lemon juice before serving. Pineapples Pineapples do not ripen after they are picked, so don't buy them if they are underripe and expect them to ripen when you get home. They will only rot. Fresh ripe pineapples should have green, fresh-looking leaves in a small, compact crown, and a leaf should be easy to remove if fully ripe. The fruit should be plump, feel heavy and have a strong sweet, but not fermented, pineapple aroma. Coloring may be green or yellow-gold, depending on the variety. Feel the bottom. It should yield to medium pressure, have no indication of mold, and the eyes should be bright, shiny and flat. Avoid any that are dry or look old and wrinkly. Dark eyes, soft spots and yellowed leaves are all indicators of a pineapple way past its prime. Peak season for pineapple is from March to July, but it is available year-round. To peel and core a pineapple, use a sturdy, sharp, serrated knife to cut off the base and the crown. Slice off the skin in a downward vertical motion, following the natural curvature of the fruit. Be sure to slice far enough in to cut off the eyes, which are woody or dig out the eyes with the knife tip or the tip of a peeler. To preserve the escaping juice, trim the pineapple on a platter. Don't discard those skins just yet. They will still hold some juice which you can squeeze out. The center core of the pineapple is tough and fibrous. It is usually trimmed away before using the remainder of the pineapple flesh. Storing at room temperature will increase the acidity level of the pineapple, but will not improve sweetness. Freshly-cut pineapple can be frozen in juice or syrup, but will lose flavor. Peel, core and cut into chunks. Place in airtight plastic bags or covered containers with their natural juice and freeze up to six months. The same bromelain enzyme in fresh pineapple that makes pineapple such a good marinade will cause gelatins to fail to firm up and dairy products to separate. Cooking nullifies the enzyme, so use canned instead of fresh pineapple in your gelatin molds. The juice is also an excellent choice as an acidulator to keep fruits and vegetables from oxidizing and turning brown, but use canned rather than fresh so it won't soften the foods soaking in it. Plantains When cooked, a plantain tastes similar to a banana; pick a black plantain for the ripest, fullest flavor. Ripen green or yellow plantains at room temperature. The wonderful thing about plantains is that they truly are a versatile food. As a plantain ripens, its high starch content changes to sugar. The answer to your question is that plantains are good at any stage; it just depends on what you want to make. Plantains are a relative of the banana, but are bigger, less sweet and need to be cooked before they are eaten. Plantains also keep their shape when cooked, unlike bananas, which get mushy. Green or "unripe" plantains contain a lot of starch and very little sweetness. Their starchy flesh is used more as a vegetable than a fruit. They can be used in soups, stews, and curries or boiled and mashed. The Cuban twice-fried plantain dish called "Tostones" uses green plantains. The next stage of ripeness is when the skin is mostly yellow with a few black speckles. In this stage of ripeness, the plantain has lost some of its starch and is slightly sweet. Plantains at this stage can be thinly sliced and fried, mashed or they can be baked until tender and served with roasted meats. When a plantain is totally ripe, the peel is almost completely black. Although these plantains might look past their prime, this is when their sugar content is the highest but the flesh is still nice and firm. It is at this stage that the plantain most resembles a banana. A ripe plantain can be used in savory or sweet dishes. I like to pan-fry them with some butter, rum, and brown sugar and serve over ice cream. When buying plantains, they should be firm and not mushy or cracked. If you need ripe plantains and only have green ones, they ripen at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, in a few days. Plums A plum is a stone-fruit tree in the genus Prunus. Its fruit is sweet, juicy and edible, and it can be eaten fresh or used in jam-making or other recipes. Plum juice can be fermented into plum wine; when distilled, this produces a brandy known as slivovitz. Dried plums are known as prunes. Prunes are sweet and juicy, and they have a very high fibre content, so prune juice is often used to help regulate the functioning of the digestive system. It also contains several antioxidants that may slow aging. Prune marketers in the United States have, in recent years, begun marketing their product as "dried plums". Prune kernel oil is made from the fleshy inner part of the pit of the plum. Plums come in a wide variety of colours and sizes. Some are much firmer-fleshed than others and some have yellow, white, green or red flesh, with equally varying skin colour. Choose plums that are tender to the touch and that have smooth, uniform skin. Look for those that retain the "bloom," a natural powder-like haze covering the fruit, since these are likely to have received the least handling. When plums are picked before they are ripe, they can be ripened at room temperature, or placed in a paper bag with an unripe banana for a day or two. In the refrigerator, ripe plums keep for about four days. Plum season is June through September, peaking in July and August. The white powdery film, which sometimes covers the fruit, is called the bloom, a substance produced naturally by the fruit. Plums are the sweet component of sweet-and-sour sauces, such as hoisin sauce. You can use plums as a substitute in recipes calling for cherries. Selected Plum Species and Cultivars in use today:
Pluots Pluots are hybrid fruits that are part plum and part apricot in heritage with a majority of plum parentage and therefore, have smooth skin like plums. Some varieties of pluots are sometimes called interspecific plums, or dinosaur eggs. The pluot is often confused with the aprium which is another plum and apricot hybrid with mostly apricot heritage. Pluots are known for their sweetness and flavor; the sugar content of these fruits is much higher than that of a plum or apricot alone. Pluot season stretches from May to September. Pluots can be found mostly in milder climates. Pluots should be plump and firm. Avoid pluots that are green, blemished, or have broken skin. Pluots should be ripened at room temperature and then refrigerated. Pluots can be ripened in a brown paper bag at room temperature. Approximately 20 varieties of pluots have been developed. Each variety contains a different percentage of plum and apricot parentage. These varieties vary in size, skin color, and flesh color. The skin can be solid, striped, or speckled and skin colors range from yellow-green to black. Pluot flesh ranges from white to red in color.
Pomegranates If you have no patience for seeds, then this is not the fruit for you. Every pomegranate is composed of exactly 840 seeds, each surrounded by a sac of sweet-tart juice contained by a thin skin. The seeds are compacted in a layer resembling honeycomb around the core. The layers of seeds are separated by paper-thin white membranes which are bitter to the tongue. The inner membranes and rind are not generally eaten due to high tannic acid content, but they are useful as a skin wash. You can eat the fresh fruit by chewing on the seeds to release the juice from the sacs and then swallow seeds and all. The seeds are considered good roughage to help cleanse the body. In India, the seeds are dried and ground into a powder to be used in meat dishes. One method to get just the juice is to vigorously roll the fruit on a hard surface to break the juice sacs. When the fruit is soft, puncture the end, insert a straw, and suck out the juice, squeezing as you go. Obviously, there is a fair amount of waste in this process. Early fall is prime time for pomegranates, October and November in the northern hemisphere, but they are usually available into early winter. The fruit is about the size of an orange. The rind color can range from yellow-orange to deep reddish-purple. Fruits should be plump and round, heavy for their size, with a rich, fresh color and should be free of cuts and blemishes. Larger fruits promise more juice. The seed sacs are about the size of your pinky fingernail. The pips are very similar in appearance to a corn kernel, but reddish, a bit translucent, and have a thinner skin. Pomegranates are not a fruit that will ripen once picked, so once harvested, they will not continue to develop sugar. Yet commercial crops are harvested before they are fully mature, in order to avoid excess bruising during transport. Whole fruits can be stored for a month in a cool, dry area or refrigerated up to two months. The seed pips can be frozen in an airtight bag up to one year. Fresh juice should be refrigerated and used within two to three days. Heating about 30 seconds on high in the microwave for a regular size pomegranate will soften the skin. Score the skin from top to bottom in two places and peel it back. The seeds just wipe out as you pass your finger over them. You may need to roll the fruit over and do 30 seconds on the other side when they don't come out readily. Be careful. It's easy to overdo the heat and get mush instead of seeds. If the skin is really dry and hard, run water over it before putting it into the microwave. Pomelos Pomelos look like giant grapefruit, but can be much, much sweeter. Choose pomelos that feel heavy for their size, and peel them by cutting the thick rind into 6 sections, then cutting through the thick membranes to reveal the flesh. Choose fruit that is heavy for its size, blemish-free and sweetly fragrant. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Pomelos may be used in any way suitable for GRAPEFRUIT. The pomelo is also called Chinese grapefruit. Raisins Raisins, or dried grapes, contain only about 15 percent water. For this reason, nutrients and calories are more concentrated in raisins-one cup contains 464 calories! Like other dried fruit, raisins are a good source of iron. When you need cooked raisins, you can cook them in the microwave for a couple of minutes... Put the raisins in a microwave proof mixing cup, fill water up to the top of the raisins, and cook on high until the water boils. Let stand about ten minutes. Other liquids you can use include grape juice, coffee and prune juice, depending on the recipe. Rambutans Egg-shaped rambutans grow in clusters and are sometimes called hairy lychees as their leathery skin is covered in long soft red hairs. They are bright red, yellow or orange when ripe, depending on the variety. Buy rambutans that are bright in color with hairs that are fresh looking, not brown and wrinkled. Rambutans contain a single seed surrounded by sweet acidic white flesh. To eat, simply slice in half and remove the seed. Rambutans are best eaten on their own or as part of a fruit salad. The rambutan is a medium sized tree producing a red or yellow fruit round to oval in shape. Its thin, leathery rind is covered with tubercles from each of which extends a soft, fleshy, red, pinkish, or yellow spine 1/5 to 3/4 in long. The somewhat hairlike covering is responsible for the common name of the fruit, which is based on the Malay word "rambut", meaning "hair". Within is the white or rose-tinted, translucent, juicy, sweet flesh, adhering to the oblong seed. The rambutan has a small crop in June - July and a heavy crop in November to January. Rambutan is indigenous to the Malay Archipelago and has been widely cultivated throughout the region in Thailand, South Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka. Star Fruits Carambola, also called the starfruit, tastes like a combination of lemon, pineapple, and apple. It is sweet and bright yellow when ripe; unripe fruit is greenish and tart. Carambola. or starfruit as it is more commonly called, does not require peeling before eating. Either eat whole or slice. Strawberries The name strawberry came about because straw was used to mulch the plants during the winter, a practice that discourages weeds and lifts the berries up from the soil. When it came time to harvest the berries, children would pick them and string them on a blade of straw. At the London market the children would sell "Straws of Berries." The strawberry is a member of the rose family, with the most common varieties being a hybrid of the wild Virginia strawberry (native to North America) and a Chilean variety. The plant produces succulent, red, conical fruit from tiny white flowers, and sends out runners to propagate. Although the plants can last 5-6 years with careful cultivation, most farmers use them as an annual crop, replanting yearly. Crops take 8-14 months to mature. Strawberries are social plants, requiring both a male and female to produce fruit When buying, look for plump, bright red, fully ripe berries. The top leaves should be attached, green and fresh looking. The size of the strawberry is not important. All strawberries, large and small, have the potential to be equally sweet and juicy. Sort and remove any bruised or damaged berries as soon as possible, being in contact with spoiled fruit can cause good fruit to go bad quicker. Place the berries in cool, well ventilated containers (32 to 40°F / 0 to 5°C). The moisture content of Fresh Strawberries is high, so store uncovered or loosely covered. Hull strawberries and rinse gently right before serving. Careful storing and handling will help the berries maintain maximum flavor, color and texture. To keep strawberries from absorbing large quantities of water, hull after washing. A salad spinner works well for removing excess water from berries. Use individual frozen strawberries as cubes in a fancy drink or cocktail. Strawberries can be kept firm for several days if you store them in a colander where air can circulate around them. To easily hull strawberries push one end of a plastic drinking straw into the point of the berry and push it through to pop off the cap. Store strawberries in a moisture-proof container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Wash them just before use. Keep strawberries fresh for up to ten days by refrigerating them unwashed in an airtight container between layers of paper towels. To hull strawberries, use your fingertips to pull off the leafy cap of the strawberry. Then, cut out the inner, soft, white core of the berry with the tip of a paring knife. Because strawberries grow so close to the ground, they often arrive in our kitchen a bit sandy. To clean berries without bruising them, wipe them gently with a dampened paper towel or brush them lightly with a mushroom brush. Try to resist rinsing them under running water, which can cause bruising. Delicate strawberries have a notoriously short shelf life. To extend it by a few days, we suggest placing a single layer of unhulled, unwashed strawberries on a rimmed sheet pan lined with a clean kitchen towel, then covering them with a second towel and refrigerating (paper towels also work). To save refrigerator space, layer the towels and berries inside a smaller, airtight container. Strawberries seem to spoil very quickly. Here is an old tip... Remove the leaves and stem of the berries. Wash and place them in a colander. Pour BOILING water over the strawberries. This will kill the bacteria that molds the berries. Place the strawberries in a plastic container in the refrigerator. They will last twice as long. Dipping strawberries in chocolate? Stick toothpicks into the stem end of the berry. Coat the berries with chocolate, shaking off any excess. Turn the berries upside down and stick the toothpick into a block of Styrofoam until the chocolate is set. The finished berries will be covered in chocolate with no flat spots. Another easy solution is to place dipped berries dipped-side up in the holes of an egg carton. Tomatoes To ripen tomatoes, place them in a shallow box or basket and slip them into a brown paper bag. Close the end and leave at room temperature. The gas released by the tomato ripens the fruit naturally. Never store unripened tomatoes in the refrigerator -- it makes the pulp soft and cottony. Place overripe tomatoes in cold water and add some salt. Overnight they will become firm and fresh. Cold temperatures can destroy the flavor and texture of tomatoes. Store them at room temperature and use them within a few days. Select several at various degrees of ripeness and store them at room temperature. Once fruit is ripe, tomatoes may be store in the refrigerator. Refrigerated tomatoes begin to lose flavor after three days. When a recipe requires only 2 ounces of tomato sauce, or only a portion of a can of tomatoes, freeze the remainder in covered ice cube trays so that you will have individual cube portions ready the next time you need them. To slice tomatoes easily, use a sharp, serrated knife. To slice tomatoes, hold the tomato so that the stem end faces out. Slice off the stem end and discard. Continue making slices using a sharp chef's or serrated knife. Your fresh tomatoes will last longer if you store them in a warm, dry place with their stems pointing downward. To peel a tomato, fill a saucepan with enough water to cover tomato and bring to a boil. Immerse tomato until skin begins to split (about 30 seconds) then drain and immerse in cold water to cool. Remove stem ends of the tomato and slip off the skin. To roast tomatoes, preheat oven to 450F degrees. Halve tomatoes crosswise then place halves, cut side down, on a shallow baking pan. Brush the tomatoes with olive oil. Roast about 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Ugli Fruit Ugli fruit are a close reltive of the mandarin and grapefuit. Ugli fruit has a delicious pulp that makes it a stimulating addition to salads and desserts, as well as eating it out of hand as you would an orange or mandarin. They are available January through June. Look for heavy fruits with no sign of drying at the stem end. Like grapefuit, the ugli fruit should give when you apply slight pressure, which means it has a juicy interior. Watermelons For a great tasting watermelon, hold the melon to your ear and knock on it. The more hollow it sounds, the better it will taste. Choose a firm watermelon that's symmetrical and free of bruises, cuts and dents. The watermelon should feel heavy for its size and have a pale or creamy yellow underside. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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