Just recently, such an exotic fruit as pineapple was a novelty for all of us. As soon as it appeared on store shelves, huge queues lined up for it - everyone certainly wanted to try the incredibly tasty tropical fruit. The children were indescribably delighted when they received such a delicacy as a gift. Today the situation has changed dramatically; fruits and vegetables from other continents are no longer uncommon. We not only know their taste and have learned to cook many delicious dishes, but we also appreciate the benefits of these products. But do we all know how to store pineapple at home correctly?
Exotic guests
The tropics are generous with their gifts, their fruits are a rich storehouse of vitamins and all sorts of benefits for our body. The lack of which we, residents of cooler regions, especially feel in winter. The desire to pamper yourself and your loved ones with something unusual and tasty is growing on the eve of the winter holidays. You can buy overseas fruits in advance to avoid unnecessary fuss the day before. But how to store pineapple at home until the New Year and at the same time preserve all its benefits? Not everyone knows this.
How long can pineapple last?
The maximum shelf life of pineapples in the refrigerator is approximately 12 days.
. A special role in this case is played by the creation of the required temperature regime – from +7 to +8 degrees. This indicator is implied in the refrigerator for areas intended for storing vegetables or fruits. At higher temperatures, the pineapple will overripe, and at lower temperatures, it will rot.
At room temperature, pineapple can be stored for no more than two days.
. After this period, the fruit must be eaten. Otherwise, the pineapple will lose its taste and the possibility of rotting may begin. You can determine the degree of ripeness of a pineapple by smell. If foreign odors (rot, mold, dampness) become noticeable in the aroma, then the fruit has already begun to deteriorate.
The shelf life of pineapple depends on whether the fruit is whole or sliced. Peeled pineapple stays fresh for several days. It should only be stored in the refrigerator. At room temperature, the fruit quickly weathers and becomes less juicy.
Unripe pineapple can be stored at room temperature, but not more than 3 days. The fruit will not ripen in the refrigerator, and long-term storage outside of a cold place will cause overripening and further signs of rotting.
When frozen at temperatures below 0 degrees, pineapples can be stored for three months.
. Before freezing, the fruit is cut into small pieces and packaged in plastic bags. The peel can be left or removed. When frozen, the taste of pineapple is not lost, but at temperatures from 0 to +6 degrees the taste becomes less intense.
If when purchasing a pineapple you know that it will not be eaten in the coming days, then it is better to purchase unripe fruits. This way you can extend the shelf life and not worry about the preservation of taste.
Like a pineapple, it was a novelty for all of us. As soon as it appeared on store shelves, huge queues lined up for it - everyone certainly wanted to try the incredibly tasty tropical fruit. The children were indescribably delighted when they received such a delicacy as a gift. Today the situation has changed dramatically; fruits and vegetables from other continents are no longer uncommon. We not only know their taste and have learned to cook many delicious dishes, but we also appreciate the benefits of these products. But do we all know how to store pineapple at home correctly?
The road to your home
Most exotic fruits arrive to us unripe. They are transported on sea vessels, but they are not particularly fast, and customs clearance at ports takes more than one day. Fruits are a very delicate product; if delivery is delayed even a little, they will simply go bad. Therefore, there can be only one solution - to pick the fruits green, and the ripening process will occur during the journey. But every exotic lover should know how to store pineapple at home and at the same time give it the opportunity to ripen.
Pineapples are sold slightly greenish, so you should buy them a few days before the upcoming holiday. This will allow the fruit to reach normal maturity, and this is the only way it can be tasty and healthy. In order for the fruit to ripen and not spoil, you should know how to store pineapple at home correctly.
How to store pineapple at home
If an overripe fruit can at least theoretically be eaten, then a spoiled one cannot.
Never buy fruit in the store if you notice the following signs:
- The peel is dull and has a grayish tint.
- The top falls off.
- The smell is pungent, reeks of alcohol or acid.
- There are fragments of mold on the stalk, and whitish specks, cracks or smudges in the stripes between the scales.
- Some areas of the peel are damaged when pressed.
Many vegetables and fruits emit ethylene gas during storage, which accelerates ripening. To allow pineapple to ripen, you can follow these steps:
- Place the fruit in a paper bag and leave it at room temperature for 3–5 days.
- Turn the fruit upside down and leave it in that position (for example, sandwich it between a wall and a stool). Then sugars and organic acids, which are located mainly in the lower part of the pineapple, will be smoothly distributed throughout the entire pulp. This will lead to an improvement in the taste of the fruit.
Unfortunately, pineapples do not emit as much ethylene as, for example, bananas or mangoes. Therefore, if you bought a completely green fruit, you are unlikely to wait for it to fully ripen.
In a refrigerator
Ripe fruits
If you want to choose the most ripe pineapple, you need to be guided by its color and the state of the green leaves on the top. There should not be many of them, and the topmost ones will have a yellowish tint - this is a guarantee that the fruit is ripe and will be tasty. The pulp of a ripe pineapple itself is sunny yellow and has a pleasant aroma. But you need to be careful with the color of the peel - dark or green color of the scales does not mean that the fruit is not ripe. It may well turn out to be ripe, the color depends more on the variety. Ripe fruits often have a yellowish, straw-colored, or reddish-brown skin. We've sorted out the choice of ripe pineapple, now let's move on to how to store pineapple at home correctly and how to choose a quality product when purchasing.
Third way
Wrap the pineapple in paper, but keep in mind that you should have several layers. After that, cover it with fruit. For example, these could be oranges, bananas, pears, etc. After two days, the pineapple should ripen. If this does not happen, let it sit for another 2 days.
And finally, remember, when choosing a pineapple, you don’t need to focus on its color. The thing is that the green pineapple may be ripe. But if dark spots appear on it, discard the fruit, as it is overripe and has begun to deteriorate. Therefore, if you want to buy ripe fruit, pay attention to the smell, the color of the peel (it should be golden yellow, straw yellow with an orange or red tint). The top leaf in the bunch should be yellow in color. As for its scales, they should be black or dark brown.
Useful tips, educational articles for summer residents and gardeners
. Planting, care, harvesting. Of course, there is a lot of information about flowers, berries, and mushrooms. On the site pages
A ripe pineapple has an oval shape, a dry stalk and a thick shoot (sultan) 10–12 cm long. The eyes are yellow-brown with slightly dried tips. There should be dark green or brownish grooves between them.
Green peel indicates the immaturity of the fruit, and brown or burgundy peel indicates its spoilage.
Avoid pineapples with brown spots and whitish grooves. These are signs of rot and mold.
Fruits in the store
Exotics are imported en masse, mainly before the holidays. There are a lot of pineapples appearing, but they are all slightly greenish. Therefore, if you decide to buy one of them, you should learn a little about how to choose a good fruit and how to store pineapple at home so that it ripens for the holiday.
First of all, pay attention to the appearance. The fruits should not be damaged, have dark spots or hints of mold or anything similar. The surface of the pineapple should not be soft. The leaves are limp, and the peel is dull and faded. This is a sign that storage conditions have been violated and the product is spoiled. Refuse to make such a purchase, even if the price is very attractive.
How to choose a delicious pineapple
Over time spent on the road, the overseas berry gains ripeness, despite some loss of taste. When choosing a pineapple, you need to know the signs that allow you to enjoy the taste without throwing away a spoiled fruit at home:
- look;
- touch;
- smell.
The name pineapple comes from the Indian definition of the fruit - apa-apa, the smell of odors. Therefore, first you need to use your sense of smell and feel the incomparable smell of odors. If spicy-sweet notes predominate, the fruit is overripe and fermentation has already begun. If the smell is barely perceptible or completely absent, the pineapple is green. Treatment of an unripe product with a flavoring cannot be ruled out.
Take a careful look at the surface of the specimen, its color and the condition of the crest. The fruit should be golden brown, with a slight green towards the top. The crest itself consists of leaves. If there are few of them and they are lifeless even in the very middle, the fruit has been waiting for a buyer for a very long time. If the leaves come off easily from the bottom, it is overripe. The junction of the hair and the body should be damp; this is the property of the leaves to collect and transfer moisture to the fruit. But there are some tricks here too. Pre-sale preparation may consist of immersing the berries in water for a day. Then it becomes heavier, the leaves are fresher, and the taste is bad and such pineapple cannot be stored.
The cone should be free of brown spots, mold and its smell. This all indicates that the product has spoiled inside. The weight of the fruit should be heavy. Light and loudly responding to the clap of the palm of the hand, pineapple, green.
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All that remains is to feel the fruit, since it is already in your hands. By lightly pressing on the crust, you can feel elastic resistance. And if you drown the lump a little, it will immediately pop out.
Choosing the right pineapple is not easy for those who rarely buy them. We consume apples, pears, watermelons, melons, and oranges much more often. Therefore, we can choose them without the advice of professionals. When choosing a pineapple for the holiday table, it is better to take the advice of an experienced person, but not a seller interested in maximum sales of the purchased product.
In China, a New Year's table without pineapple is unthinkable. This fruit is a symbol of prosperity and good luck in the future.
We bought a pineapple
How to store pineapple at home? If you bought it completely ripe - no more than 3-4 days, at room temperature. However, it should not be placed in cold or high humidity areas. Often, out of habit, we put fruits in the refrigerator - this is a mistake, as the fruit will quickly lose its quality and spoil. It is better to leave it right on the kitchen table or windowsill; it will serve as an excellent decoration and will feel great.
How to store pineapple at home if it is green? There are several proven methods, and we will dwell on each of them in more detail.
Option one
Store in the same way as ripe fruit - at room temperature, low humidity and plenty of air. To make it sweet, turn it upside down. With this storage, the pineapple will not ripen quickly, the period is about a week, so plan your purchase in advance or speed up the ripening process.
Option two
How to store pineapple at home until the New Year, if there is little time left and the fruit is still completely green? There is a way to speed up the process naturally. Ethylene influences the rate of ripening of pineapples. Place other fruits around the exotic guest - ordinary pears and apples, oranges and bananas - the process will go much faster.
Option three
Here's another way to store pineapple at home. There are only 2-3 days left until the New Year, but the pineapple seems to have just been picked? Not a problem - the same fruits will come to the rescue, but the pineapple should be wrapped in several layers of paper. Check the ripening every day: lightly pull the leaf in the center of the top - if it comes out easily, it means the fruit is ripe, it’s time to remove the paper, otherwise it will be overripe.
If there is very little time left before the start of the holiday, try to choose the most ripe fruit when purchasing.
What to do with pineapple if it starts to spoil
Sometimes mold appears on the fruit. It can occur if the correct storage conditions are not followed. More often, the cause may be a temperature deviation or high humidity. All this influences the fact that one day a white coating or blackened area will form.
If it has already begun to deteriorate, carefully cut out the darkened areas and follow the tips below:
- Remove all rotten areas with a knife, then peel it completely, cut into pieces or circles, wrap in film and refrigerate. In this form, peeled and cut, it can be stored for about 6 more days. Moreover, you can wrap the film either completely, all the pieces, or each one individually.
- Cut out all the darkened places and, without peeling the skins, put the whole pineapple in a paper bag with holes made for ventilation and put it in a fruit bowl with a temperature of 7-8 degrees, where it can lie for several days.
- Place the fruit, cleaned of plaque and spoilage, into a fabric bag and leave at room temperature for no more than 2-3 days.
- Instead of a fabric bag, you can use a paper bag with ventilation holes, but in both cases do not cover the pineapple with fruit. This will speed up its deterioration, and it will last for several more days.
- If the fruit begins to deteriorate, peel it, cut out all spoiled areas, cut into slices or pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at a very low temperature.
- 6. You can clean the pineapple from incipient spoilage and process it: dry it, freeze it, preserve it.
Overripe, it is also not suitable for food, just like spoiled, it is better not to wait for this state. If it so happens that it begins to become overripe or one barrel begins to deteriorate, it is necessary to use it quickly. There are options for what you can do with it further: dry it, freeze it, can it, cook compote. You can consider each method in more detail.
Drying or candied
The method is intended for longer storage. All beneficial properties and vitamins are preserved much longer than when boiled or frozen. The preparation takes a little longer, but it is not difficult at all. Pineapples are cut into slices, they should be placed in sugar syrup for several days, and then dried in a dark place. The resulting candied fruits will be a tasty addition to tea and will be useful when baking muffins and cookies. When dried, they will be stored for a year; longer is not recommended. As the period increases, fewer nutrients remain.
Freezing
Wash the pineapple and remove the skin. Inspect and cut out if there are damaged areas or very soft ones. Then cut into small cubes and place in one layer on a plate or cutting board. In this form, place in the freezer of the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. During this time, the cubes will freeze, they can be poured into bags or containers and put back in the freezer for a long time. It is advisable that the period of use does not exceed 3 months. Cubes can be used as decorations for dishes, salads, and drinks. When frozen, the aroma of the fruit and all its beneficial properties are well preserved.
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Important! Do not defrost frozen pineapples multiple times. The melted fruit must be consumed completely.
Canning
There are simple recipes for canning this product. An interesting option is to make jam from it. The fruit is washed, peeled, cut into slices and placed in syrup made from 1 kg of sugar and 0.7 liters of water. Leave in this syrup for at least 12 hours. Then place the saucepan on low heat, bring the jam to readiness and roll it into a jar.
This preservation is reliable and can be stored for a very long time. It is necessary to avoid exposure to the sun's rays and it would be better to place it in a cool place. After opening the jar, the jam must be eaten within 3-4 days to avoid oxidation of preservatives.
Compote
Cooking compote is the easiest and fastest way. You need to take water and cut the pineapple into slices or cubes. Add sugar, cook for 5 minutes, and the compote is ready. It’s very tasty if you add other fruits: apples, pears.
