A FRESH TAKE ON FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Ripe and ready?
For pineapples at their peak, smell is all-important. When ripe, the fruit will exude a fragrant, sweet aroma, particularly at the base. It should also feel weighty for its size, with a firm surface that yields ever so slightly when pressed. If it feels unusually soft, the leaves have begun to wither or there’s a whiff of vinegar, take this as an indicator that your pineapple needs to be used pronto.
Tips and tricks
If faced with a seriously under-ripe pineapple, it’s worth giving this hack a go: slice the top off the fruit, then rest it cut-side down on a plate or dish, cover with cling film and leave it in the fridge for a couple of days. The idea here being that the sweet juices from the base (the ripest part) will trickle down and permeate the rest of the fruit.
Get cooking
If your pineapple is on the turn, chop it into bite-size pieces and freeze for later: add these to smoothies and juices or use them to subtly flavour water. You could also make a tropicaltasting granita by blending 500 grams of chopped pineapple flesh with 75g caster sugar, the zest and juice of a large lime, and a handful of basil leaves. Pour into a container and freeze for 5 hours, stirring the mixture vigorously every hour or so. Alternatively, fry diced pineapple with panch phoron (Bengali 5-spice) and a little sugar or jaggery to make a quick chutney, or toss with mint and chilli for a salsa that’s fantastic with white meat or fish.
Ripe and ready?
Once you’ve feasted on heady-sweet tomatoes that taste like summer, the more commonly encountered watery ones feel like something of an insult. Seasonal tomatoes grown in the sun will always be best, but you can do some damage control by selecting those that feel tender to the touch, and have glossy, slightly shiny skin and a deep, concentrated colour.
Tips and tricks
The fridge is no friend of the tomato: not only does the cold inhibit the fruit’s flavour-producing enzymes, but it also causes its cell structures to rupture, which results in an unappealing mushy texture. If you can, store them spread out in a single layer at room temperature and away from direct sunlight. Failing that, remove them from the fridge an hour or so before eating.
Get cooking
A glut of ripe tomatoes is a rather wonderful thing to be faced with: eat them as they are, add olive-oildressed wedges to salads, stir through pasta, serve up pan con tomate (Spanish tomato bread), master the simple art of the tomato sandwich or make soup. After all that, if you still find yourself with surplus, be comforted by the fact that they freeze well.
Out-of-season toms throw up more of a challenge and, in truth, it’s probably best to avoid eating them raw if you don’t want to end up disappointed. Instead, mix with olive oil, and a little salt and sugar, and slow-roast in a low oven for a couple of hours. It’s no exaggeration to say that something transformative happens: the cooking process dials up the tomato flavour no end, drawing the excess water out of the fruit and concentrating its natural sugars.
Ripe and ready?
The theory goes that if you pull at the stem of an avocado and it comes away easily, then it’s ready for eating. That said, it’s worth pointing out that avocados ripen at the top first, so this test doesn’t necessarily hold true for the whole fruit, and for that reason, a tactile approach tends to be more reliable. Give your avocado a good squeeze, and when it’s firm but not hard with a little gentle give, things are looking good. If you’re selecting your avocados by hand and are planning on using them immediately, steer clear of those that feel solid because they’ll take a couple of days, if not longer, to mature. At the other end of the spectrum, avoid fruit with bruised, dented skin that seems soft and mushy.
Tips and tricks
There’s logic behind the idea of nestling under-ripe avocados up close to bananas in the fruit bowl – bananas give off a gas called ethylene that helps kickstart the ripening process. To speed the process up, pop the two in a paper bag. If you find yourself with avocados that seem like they’re going to reach their peak before you need them, keeping them in the fridge should prevent them from ripening any further, or slow things down at least.
Get cooking
From smashed avocado on toast to that 1980s dinner-party classic, prawns drenched in Marie Rose sauce and served in a cut avocado half, there’s so much you can do with a buttery-soft avo. Its bulletlike counterparts are more problematic until you consider avocado fries: slice the fruit into long wedges, coat lightly in seasoned flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden.
You can also try pickled avocados: prepare a quick pickle by boiling 200ml water with 150ml white vinegar, 75g caster sugar, a tablespoon of salt, a handful of white pepper corns and dried chillies, and the pared zest of a lemon. Once the sugar dissolves, remove from the heat and leave to cool, then add avocado slices and transfer to the fridge for a couple of hours.
▶ There are few things more irritating than getting stuck with fruit and vegetables that are too ripe – or not ripe enough. Emily Price looks at five offenders and offers advice on how best to select, store and use produce