Summer is the prime time for fruit. Everything from blueberries to peaches are in their prime in the summer. Unfortunately, you can’t always get ripe fruit from the grocery store. Tired of waiting for days for your fruit to ripen? With this simple and easy trick, you can make your fruit ripen sooner rather than later.
#SpoonTip: Here’s how to know if your fruit is ripe at the grocery store.
Photo by Tyra Wu
The key to ripening fruit at home is trapping ethylene, a gas given off by fruit that aids ripening. All you need is a paper bag and the fruit you want to ripen. Simply place the fruit in the paper bag and wait a few days. Enclosing your fruit in a paper bag traps the ethylene, speeding up the ripening process.
This tricks works great for avocados, bananas, pears, peaches and tomatoes. Bananas and apples give off more ethylene than other fruits, so if you stick one of these in the bag with the other fruit you want to ripen, it should speed up the ripening process even more.
Photo by Tyra Wu
You can also use rice to speed up ripening instead of a paper bag. Uncooked rice is great at trapping ethylene. All you have to do is submerge your fruit in the rice and make sure it’s fully covered. This trick works well for fruits with a harder skin, rather than softer fruits.
Photo by Tyra Wu
According to an article by Food52, there are a few types of fruit including berries, grapes and watermelon that will never ripen after being picked. However there are other fruits including apples, pears, mangos, kiwis and bananas that do get sweeter once you take them home. With this simple tip, you can enjoy soft, juicy fruit throughout the entire summer.