It's always advisable to buy fruits when they are in season. Once you do you'll have to preserve them. While there are lots of ways you can use if the fruits will lose their flavor after being stored for a long time, all your hard work will be for naught because you may not want to eat the fruits. For those of you who regularly preserve fruits, how do you do it?
The best way to preserve fruits is through value addition. Its easy to make jams and marmalades as well as pickles and chutneys. A casual internet search should yield excellent ways to make these products. An easy method is to preserve them in brine in a bottle after thoroughly heating the contents to preserve them. Then tightly close the lid.
No doubt about it - whether you grow your own fruit or have to buy it - as its at its best when in season - preserving it in any way that you can when there is an abundant supply - is for sure - a great money saver - and even more so if you have to buy it - particularly as - not only is fruit generally sold at much lower prices when its in season - but taking advantage of these times by buying in bulk and preserving it - will very definitely save a considerable amount of money in the long term. Anyway in answer to the question - as I grow all my own fruit and therefore this is something I do regularly - particularly as I never like to let anything go waste - although I generally freeze the majority of the best fruits as they are or dry them - anything that is misshapen, slightly blemished or overly ripe I make into Fruit leather Fruit salsas, purees, butters and jams - both for savory and sweet dishes Ice pops, sorbets, ice cream or granitas Fruit breads, cookies etc all of which can be frozen and eaten at a later date. Or if there is a bit of extra time to spare - you can make them into candied fruits or even - use them to make wine.
I like to preserve fruits as either sauces of some kind or as jams. I like to make chutney too but I don't do that as much as I used to anymore. I'll freeze some fruit as well though. Bananas make good popsicles, for example. I'll also freeze things like strawberries and blueberries in ice cubes as well to use in drinks throughout the year.
I think I already have posted our way of preserving mangoes. We have a big mango tree that fruits twice a year. Each harvest fills 5 kilos and sometimes up to10 kilos. Since we cannot eat all of those mangoes, we give away a portion to friends and colleagues. However, we have found a way of preserving mangoes by peeling and slicing before placing in plastic containers with our secret recipe mainly of sugar and salt. Right now we have 8 kilos of those mangoes in the fridge to be given away tomorrow.
Well, I am assuming that a lot of people put their fruit in cool places such as a fridge or somewhere else equally as cool, in order to help preserve their fruit. But if you leave your fruit at room temperature, it has been found that the nutrients within them tend to multiply, which is great if you are a healthy eater or have any sort of nutrient deficiency.
Wow. I'm surprised no one had said this yet: I freeze them. Since when is canning and making jam easy? (Don't get me wrong, it is fun, but it isn't easy and it is time and money up front.) I just freeze fruit in season and use it all year in smoothies, or baked goods. Berries freeze the best, and I like to pick blueberries locally and get enough to last until the next season. I also will stock up when my grocery store has local berries for a good price. Right now, my freezer is full of strawberries. I've also frozen mango, and a variety of veggies for preservation - which are even easier to use because many you can just cook and eat. I like to freeze squash and bake with it, or tuck into sauces and soups.
You know, I've never actually given this a thought! I never even questioned why we have fruit available all through the year even when it should really be out of season. Probably explains why some of it just doesn't taste right, just flat! I've considered using frozen fruit in the past, as I've heard it retains all the goodness right from the day it's frozen, and still tastes good. But I've never followed through with that. Maybe it's time for me to go down this route
I have just seen my dad refrigerate bananas that were not yet eaten for quite some time and other fruits were even placed in the freezer, so I guess just by simply freezing the fruit is enough to preserve them.
Probably because it is so obvious lol. Lemons especially - there are supposedly a lot of health benefits for freezing lemons and then shaving them - in their frozen form - onto salads for dressing and flavor and whatnot. On the other hand, leaving fruits at room temperature often fosters more nutrients, so I guess it is a matter of what your goal is, whether it is consuming more nutrients or saving money and making fruits last.
Hmmm..... definitely appears to be some confusion here - as its actually quite the opposite. Especially bearing in mind the fact - that the moment a fruit or vegetable is picked - it starts to lose valuable nutrients and continues to do so until its eaten and also that the more it is exposed to heat, light and air - the quicker the process. Therefore - as freezing has long been proven to stop that process - meaning it preserves all those valuable nutrients and has for that reason - been the preferred preservation method for decades - if nutrient intake was your goal - then frozen fruit would for sure be the better option - as it would contain way, way more nutrients than “ fresh “ fruit bought from the store - that had been sitting around in a fruit bowl at room temperature for days - particularly as the latter would most probably be lacking any form of nutrients. In fact as frozen fruit is more beneficial to health and a great way of saving money - no two ways about it - its a win, win situation all round.
I don't think it happens all the time. It seems as if the science behind it has found that it dos not happen all the time, but happens often enough for it to be some sort of a rule. Obviously, if it is too hot that is going to spoil the fruits faster. As far as keeping the fruit fresh, putting them in a cooler place seems rational. But if you want the nutrients to be more then room temperature is said to be the way to go. Of course, the nutrients do not always multiply.
I will make a lot of things like jam from the fruit that I grow, but I will also try to freeze fruit as well, so that I am able to use it during the year whenever I need it. I usually find that I have enough to get me through around half of the year, and then I have to go back to the supermarkets, but it is certainly much better than nothing!
I don't preserve that much but my favorite methods are freezing in an airtight container like plastic boxes or ziplock bags, or sometimes I'd turn them into jam if I think I'll be keeping them for longer than I would anticipate since I don't want to have to worry too much about storage or just the overall state of the fruits in the freezer. My top pick would be dehydration though as I love eating dehydrated fruits as snacks but we don't have any devices to make those so usually I Just buy them already processed.
