Summer arrives, or ends, and the fridge becomes our eternal ally to keep our food refrigerated. Thanks to this blessed appliance, the tasks of home storage of any fresh product they have become child’s play.
Meats, fish, cold cuts, dairy products and… fruits and vegetables? Almost all the fresh products that we buy will appreciate going through the fridge if we want to increase their durability, qualities and flavor, but this does not happen with everyone.
Especially recurring battle with the world of fruits and vegetables as is the case of tomatoes, where the use of the refrigerator allows to extend its useful life —but also reduces its quality and texture—, although it is not the only case.
However, there is something else to take into account with certain foods that, in general terms, we should not put in the fridge. There are some exceptions of course, but for almost all tropical fruits The fridge is going to be one of your worst enemies.
What tropical fruits not to put in the fridge
The key concept to understand which tropical fruits should not go in the fridge goes beyond them: we talk about the concept of climacteric fruits, which is nothing more than a characteristic of the ripening of various fruits.
Summarized very simply, a climacteric fruit is one that it continues to ripen once it has been harvested. In fact, most tropical fruits —and non-tropical ones— are climacteric fruits. To give an example of the first, we should cite the avocado, mango, banana, papaya, guava or custard apple, among the most representative of what we see in our day to day.
Outside of the exclusively tropical, climacteric fruits are also the apple, the pear, the plum, the fig, the peach, the watermelon or the persimmon, to give examples that are close.
What does this mean? Well, if these fruits are collected before their time there will be no problem in letting them mature a little more once collected, they will eventually mature. The case, to be resolved, is different from what happens with citrus fruits, prickly pears, pineapple and tamarind —this nuance is important—, grapes, pomegranate and most red fruits or forest fruits such as blackberries. , blueberries, currants, strawberries or raspberries.
It doesn’t matter how, it matters when
However:The fridge is the best ally of our tropical fruits, climacteric or not, in summer?
The short answer is no. The long answer is it depends. It depends on when we put the tropical fruits in in question or what kind of tropical fruits we are talking about. Let’s keep in mind that tropical fruits —almost by definition— grow in humid climates and with high ambient temperatures —hence the word tropical.
Reason why putting a mango or avocado in the fridge when the ambient temperature of our kitchen is around 25 degrees probably not the best option. But, especially, you have to know when not to put tropical fruits in the fridge. In this case, tropical climacteric fruits should not be put in the fridge when they are not fully ripe.
By subjecting them to the cold of the refrigerator, we are going to stop their maturation, even at the cost of extending its conservation, so we will have less tasty and immature fruits. It would be a different case to resort to the fridge in case of already ripe tropical fruits, where we can extend their conservation in the fridge, but if we are going to consume them in the short term it is better to keep them at room temperature because they will be more pleasant.
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The case is different with bananas.for example, that due to their own condition —especially sensitive to blows and oxidation, due to their type of skin— it would be convenient to put them in the fridge once they are ripe so that they do not remain too soft or limp.
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