Very few things in life can surpass the pleasure of sinking one’s teeth on a sweet watermelon or a juicy mango or a crisp apple. What can be more tasty and at the same time nutritious than fruit.Fresh ones are at a premium, naturally. We all know about the apple a day that keeps the proverbial doctor away.
Unlike vegetables and meat which are cooked, fruits are generally consumed in its raw form, thus retaining their full nutritional value. No diet plan is complete without the inclusion of a fruit and for a good reason. Depending on seasonality and availability of fresh fruits, including fruits in one’s diet can work wonders. Doctors and nutritionists have long been harping on the medicinal properties of fruits including the easily available papaya, apple and orange and the exotic ones like gooseberry and star fruit.
However, it is important to remember that the benefits of a fresh fruit far outweigh that of canned fruits and juices. Adding preservatives and sugar syrups destroys some amount of the vitamin content of the fruit and sugar syrup adds empty calories to it.
So, for a healthier lifestyle remember to replace the juice carton with a dozen fresh oranges.
Keeping Fruit Fresh
It’s not always easy to get fresh fruit when you need it. Sometimes, you’re forced to keep fruit for a while before you get a chance to eat it. Keeping fruit fresh like this is an art and like all art, it requires a bit of effort. There are quite a few ways to prevent fruit from losing its freshness and each of them addresses a different issue relating to freshness.
For example, discoloration can be avoided by placing the peeled fruits in some water with a bit of salt or a squeeze of lemon. Bruises can be avoided by puffing up the bags in which the fruits are kept so as to maintain a buffer between hard knocks and the fruit itself. Another idea is to separate fruits that are spoiled from the fresh ones, as the flaws can spread from one to the other. And of course, it’s well known to keep apples away from other fruits since they release ethylene which acts as a ripening stimulant.
These are just a few ways of keeping fruit fresh. Of course, one of the easiest ways is to refrigerate the produce and keep the containers clean and free from residue that might spoil the fruit.
Organic Fruit
It is hard to believe that in the not so recent past organic was the only way to grow fruits and vegetables and only with the advent of pesticides have the terms ‘organic’ and ‘inorganic’ gained significance. Organic fruit, to put it simply, are grown without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers. By the time fruits land at your local department store they go through the entire cycle of pre-ripened picking, longer storage and indiscriminate use of chemicals which ensures that the fruit has lost substantial amount of its nutritive value.
With growing health awareness, many people are now specifically looking out for organic fruits. Earlier the only place to procure organic fruits was the farmer’s market, unless of course you had your own fruit orchard. However, with the growing demand for organic fruits, supermarkets have started storing them. Now you have every shop having a separate aisle with organic products.
Since these products donot have the advantage of large scale produce as the more conventional non-organic products do, they tend to be slightly more expensive. Given the long term benefits of having chemical free fruits, many people ignoring the cost factor, are gradually turning to organic products.