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One of the best things about eating in a healthy manner is to enjoy a really ripe piece of fruit, such as a delicious peach. When you bite into a very tasty, ripe peach, you can be overwhelmed by the soft flesh, the aroma, the sweet juices and the flavor. However, anyone who buys a lot of fruit and loves to eat it has occasionally made a mistake and bought a piece of fruit that was not ripe enough. It can be really annoying to come home with some fruit, only to discover that it is either not ripe or overripe. If you learn how to pick fruit, you can enjoy riper, delicious fruit in your diet. Most people do not have an orchard or a garden full of ripe fruit to be picked. Most of us buy it at the grocery store, and it was picked and shipped usually before it was ripe. This makes it even more important for us to understand how fruit ripens, and learn how to know when a piece of fruit is ripe in the store, and which one will get ripe soon after you bring it home. As a piece of fruit gets ripe, it goes from a hard, sour, and inedible object into something with a bright color, soft and sweet piece of fruit. As the fruit ripens, it changes its size, weight, color and flavor. The purpose of this is to make the fruit attractive to animals and humans, so that we pick it and eat it and spread around the seeds. With many pieces of fruit, you can tell somewhat if it is ripe by looking at the color. As the fruit gets riper, the acidity begins to change. The chlorophyll starts to break down that gives it a green color. The brighter colors will start to show through as the chlorophyll goes away. Some other fruits, such as tomatoes, will produce the red or orange compound at the same time as the chlorophyll degrades. Berries that are a blue red color will start to get a deeper red as they begin to get ripe. Most of these fruits - bananas, apples, tomatoes, cherries and tomatoes - really do show they are getting ripe by the color shift. Another way you can tell that some fruit is ripe is by the odor. A good example is many types of melon. Changes in the chemical makeup of the fruit will cause them to make very strong, pleasant odors. You can best choose a good melon by smelling the end of the fruit where the blossom was, and choose fruit that has an aroma that is very fruity. Next, you should feel the piece of fruit to see if it has a bit of softness. As many fruits get ripe, the compounds that keep the cells together begin to deteriorate and change into pectins that are water soluble. This will make the fruit get a bit softer. For example, if your plum is very hard, it is not yet ripe. So it is a good idea to gently squeeze many fruits, including pears, kiwi and avocado. It does not work as well with fruits with a thicker rind. Last, if your piece of fruit is a bit heavier than the others, this is a good sign. It usually will mean that the fruit is mature, and that is a good indication that the fruit is ripe. If your tomato or grapefruit is ripe, that is usually a strong sign that it is ripe and ready to be eaten. This can work very well on melon, grapefruit and even sometimes oranges. Lawrence Reaves writes for kitchen appliance company Hamilton Beach who provides a selection of kitchen blenders and personal blenders.
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Fruit, Health, Diet, Smoothie, Blender, Blenders, Fruit Juice,
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