Where do you keep your fruit?

[Jenise]

I visited the home of new friends the other night and was once again struck by the sight of a lot of fruit sitting out. In this case, bananas, tomatoes, apples, Walla Walla onions, a couple peaches and various other things cascaded down from the ceiling in a succession of hanging baskets. A melon and a bowl of cherries was separately on the island counter.

This person apparently subscribes to the same theory my wonderful friend Annabelle does, and once upon a time my friend Ildi did, about fruit storage: none of it ever goes in the fridge.

At Ildi's, even grapes sit out and shrivel up on their vines. Her theory is that no fruit is ever ripe enough when you bring it home, and besides she's from Europe where growing up what refrigeration there was wasn't wasted on fruit.

The other friend, Annabelle, suffers from a chronically overstuffed fridge, so even if she didn't grow up in Hawaii where all fruit was left on the counter to ripen and even get severely overripe, to the point of being plagued with fruit flies, she wouldn't have room to chill her fruit anyway. But I know it goes deeper than that: whatever Mom did is right, and that's how she does it.

When I grew up in California, we ate a lot of fruit, had it on hand all the time and it all went into the refrigerator. Now I've gotten away from doing things the way my mother did them in a lot of cases, but this isn't one of them: except for purloined fruit straight off of someone else's tree, fruit just tastes better cold. It will also usually be firmer, or should I say crisper, a plus with fragile fruits like cherries and grapes. I don't want those fruits to get any riper, nor do I want soft apples or pears. In the fridge they go!

About the only exception at my house is melons, which sometimes need further ripening, or at the moment a rare bowl of apricots which though firm and underripe were so blushed with sun spots I have hopes that they'll be pretty good and better, once they ripen, than no apricots at all.

How do others store fruit?

How do others store fruit?

Almost always in the refrigerator - except for bananas.

On the counter unless dead ripe.

This is an interesting post Jenise...most of my fruit is on the counter, but I do store some stuff in the fridge. Fruit that doesn't ripen further once picked, ie, grapes and berries, always go in the fridge. All my stone fruits, apples, pears, pineapples, melons, tomatoes, always stay on the counter. My daughter eats TONS of fruit...at least 3 or 4 different things every meal (she will have a plum, peach, tomato, and 1/2 pint of blueberries after she has lunch!), so rarely do I ever need to put any fruit in the fridge because it doesn't have time to overripen. I will occasionally put a peach in the fridge, just because I enjoy really cold fruit.

If fruit has overripened or wasn't great to begin with, I will cook it down with some cinnamon and apple juice and have it as a dessert.

Growing up on a farm made me love ripe fruit -- and as a very special treat -- cold fruit. Most of our fruit is stored on the counter until ripe; I only use the fridge for large quantities from Costco, for example.

Tomatoes and bananas always on the counter. And most grapes get wonderfully richer -- if I leave them too long, they become various versions of raisins, and interesting in their own right.

When it's ripe, we put it in the fridge to hold it, and often put it in the fridge for an hour or two just to make it cold before eating it.

The aroma of fruit ripening on the counter is one of the joys of our kitchen.

I, too, have almost always kept my fruit in the fridge, just like my parents did. But my husband and I were having a conversation the other day about this, and we were wondering if fruit eaten cold doesn't lose some of it's flavor? It came up as we were eating cherries, and there were some that had been refrigerated and some that hadn't, and it seemed that those that weren't cold tasted much more flavorful.

Kind of like over-chilled white wine maybe??

Almost exclusively on the counter/table, which is the opposite of what my mom did/does.

Apples and pears I like cold and crisp, so they get refrigerated. Everything else sits on the table or counter in some beautiful handthrown bowls a friend of mine made.

I guess something that may influence this is that I try to shop several times a week for produce, so I don't ever have huge quantities at a time, and go through it pretty quickly.

Tomatoes are something that should, IMNSHO, never be refrigerated as it kills the taste.

On the counter. And I agree with K Story - to me, too cold fruit is like too cold wine, and I don't enjoy it.
There are exceptions - once we cut a melon, it goes in the fridge. I usually eat some after dinner, so I'll take it out an hour or so before dinner to let it come to room temp. Same with pineapple.

But stone fruit, apples, oranges and bananas never see the inside of our fridge.

How do others store fruit?

Almost always in the refrigerator - except for bananas.

[Robin Garr]

Like most of the others, on the counter unless (1) it's almost over-ripe or (2) the idea of a piece of cold fruit sounds good. I'm with the group here, though, that serving fruit too cold is a lot like serving wine too cold. Cold temps diminish flavor. And this definitely includes tomatoes whether you consider them fruit or not.

[Jenise]

Robin said:

Cold temps diminish flavor. And this definitely includes tomatoes whether you consider them fruit or not.

You know what, I understand this entirely and agree with it--and I still want my fruit cold. Can't stand soft fruit in most instances, and without the chill it lacks the refreshment factor I crave. A little less flavor in exchange for a little more crunch and a calming coolness? Easy trade. Make mine cold! I even refrigerate bananas.

Where do I keep my fruit?

In the closet, where he belongs.

Oh, that isn't what you meant . . . . .

-Paul W.

I'm with Cynthia on this. Our apples and pears go in the frige because we like them cold. Tomatoes NEVER EVER EVER go in the frige.

If it sits on the counter and starts to get a little too ripe then we will put it in there (except for bananas). Otherwise it stays on the counter.

rwj

[Jenise]

Wow, I'm really in the minority on this, and I'm surprised since I don't see fruit sitting out at other people's houses very often. Maybe I just visit people who don't buy fruit! But that's why I asked, thanks everyone for your responses.

I agree, I only put fruit in the refrigerator to prevent it from going rotten, and also find that cold fruit often lacks flavor as well as the succulent texture I seek in many fruits.

Joining a little late here--been working way too much...

Like you, Jenise, most of ours goes into the fridge. (Just when you thought you were the oddball!) My husband will not eat fruit that is ripe. For him it has to be hard--peaches, plums, pears, you name it. I like mine with a little more resilience, but it all has to be cold (especially apples--won't even take one if it's not cold). So I usually buy a combination of under-ripe and just-rippened to make us both happy, but all of it goes in the fridge. Bananas are a different story. We hardly ever eat them "raw." I make a lot of banana bread, so almost exclusively buy them to sit on the counter and turn black.

Like most of you, I never ever refrigerate tomatoes and reprimand all friends and family who do so.

In the wine cellar until I'm ready to pull the cork.