Fruit Tips

Bananas

Place overripe bananas in a quart size freezer bag. When you have enough to make banana bread, thaw the bananas on the counter and use in your recipe.

Peel bananas from the bottom so you won’t have to pick off string. That’s how the primates do it.

Bananas ripen faster when kept together at the stem.

Berries

In order to mix berries so you do not smash them, put them in a plastic bag, add sugar, cinnamon, etc., hold the bag closed and gently jostle the bag.

Cherries

Three tips for pitting cherries:
1. Push the cherry firmly down on the pointed end of a pastry tip.
2. Push a drinking straw through the bottom of the cherry.
3. Use a needle-nose pliers. At the stem end pierce the skin of the cherry. Spread the pliers enough to grasp the pit and pull it out.

Kiwi

Peeling a kiwi is easier without a knife or vegetable peeler. First, trim the ends of the fruit. Insert a small spoon between the skin and the flesh with the bowl side toward the flesh. Push the spoon down and move it around the fruit, separating the flesh from the skin. Gently remove the skin with the spoon.

Lemons, Limes – (Citrus Fruit)

Freeze slices for beverages. Slice the lemon or lime and put on a tray with parchment paper on it. Put tray in the freezer. When the slices are frozen, put them in a zipper-lock bag.

A beater from a hand-held mixer can be used to squeeze out the juice from citrus fruit.

So lemon zest does not get stuck on a grater. Cover the grater with a piece of waxed paper before grating. The zest will stay on the waxed paper.

To clean a grater after zesting fruit, use a toothbrush to scrape it off.

To juice lemons, roll the lemon on a hard surface, pressing down hard with the palm of your hand. Cut the lemon in half. Use a reamer (or beaters from a hand mixer) to squeeze out the juice. Squeeze it out over a strainer so it catches the seeds.

Take the shells of the lemon and put them in freezer bags. Place them in the freezer. When you need to keep apples, potatoes, etc. from turning brown after they have been peeled, take out a frozen shell, put it in water with the fruit. It will keep the fruit from turning brown.

Mangoes

Remove a thin slice from one end of the mango so that it sits on a flat surface Peel the mango with a sharp paring knife. Cut flesh off down the flat side of the pit. Do the same on the other side. Trim around the pit to remove any remaining flesh. Chop or slice as desired.

Peaches, Nectarines

To remove the pit of a peach, find the crease that marks the pointed edge of the pit. Position a knife at a 90 degree angle to the crease. Cut the peach completely in half. Grasp both halves of the peach and twist apart. Remove the pit.

To peel peaches or nectarines, place them in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, tuning once or twice. Remove with slotted spoon and place immediately in ice water. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin with your fingers.

Pears

To core a pear, use a melon baller. Cut around the central core with the melon baler. Move the melon baler from the center to the top of the pear, removing the stem as you go. Use the melon baller to remove the blossom end too.

Pineapples

To peel and core a pineapple, start by trimming the ends of the pineapple. Cut it from top to bottom into four quarters. Slide a knife between the skin and the flesh to remove the skin. Stand each peeled quarter on end and slice off the portion of the tough light-colored center. Slice pineapple as desired.

Strawberries

To hull strawberries, use a plastic straw. Push the straw through the bottom of the strawberry through the leafy stem.

Tips gleaned from: The Best Kitchen Quick Tips by the editor’s of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine