Market Forms and Preparing Fruits Culinary Arts

Fresh Fruit Never wash fruits before storing them, wait until you are ready to use them Underripe fruit – keep at room temperature to ripen. You can speed the process by placing them in a brown paper bag. Bananas – store uncovered at room temperature; can be refrigerated after ripening Berries, cherries, and grapes – sort to remove any that are damaged and store in a covered container.

Fresh Fruit cont. Citrus fruits – store at room temperature or refrigerate for longer storage Cut fruits – store in an airtight container All other ripe fruits – refrigerate uncovered in the crisper. To keep melon flavors from flavoring other foods, store them in a closed container or bag. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WY4kWyVS2U

Preparing Fresh Fruit Wash only when ready to eat Do no use detergents because they can react with the pesticides and wax on the fruit To remove the waxy coating of fruits pare a thin layer of skin off To retain nutrients, cut into large pieces and serve immediately

Investigate With a partner… look up the steps fruit goes through from being picked to you the consumer. Give a brief description.

Canned Fruits Packed in juices or in heavy or light syrup Less expensive than frozen and fresh Choose cans free of dents, bulges and leaks Choose jars free from cracks and chips Store all cans in cool dry places

Frozen Fruit Available sweetened and unsweetened Whole and in pieces Resemble fresh fruit in color and flavor, but not texture When buying, choose packages that are clean, undamaged, and frozen solid

Dried Choose fruits that are soft and pliable Store in a cool dark place Larger fruits cost more than smaller fruits. Some recipes call for reconstituting the fruit before using This process restores dried fruit to its former condition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpHlaGuIEpg

Own Your Own… For the following items, tell me how you would select and store them: Strawberries for chocolate covered strawberries Dried fruit for trail mix Canned peaches Frozen Cherries for smoothies

Cooking Techniques - Fruit

What happens? Results in a loss of nutrients Colors change depending on the fruit Flavors become mellow and less sharp and acidic As fruit is cooked the texture breaks down causing the fruit to fall apart

Cooking in Moist Heat Water or sugar Cooking with sugar retains shape Use a two to one ratio of water to sugar Poaching fruit enables fruit to hold its shape Cooking with water does not retain shape Use as little water as necessary How to poach pears To make a fruit sauce, simmer in a small amount of water until the fruit breaks down and add sweeteners at the end

Baking Should be tender and not hold shape Steam cooks the fruit. The skin holds the steam in and cooks the fruit. If you peel the skin off a covered casserole dish serves the same purpose Paula’s Peach Cobbler

Frying You can fry them in a skillet with a small amount of fat. This is called sautéing. You can also deep fry fruit dipped in a batter. These are called fritters.

Microwave Fruits cooked in a microwave retain nutrients and flavor because they use little amounts of water When microwaving: Pierce the skin if the fruits have a tight skin Cooking time depends on the amount of water present in the fruit Ripe fruit requires less cooking time than firmer, underripe fruit.

Broiling Broiling fruits slightly browns them Any tender fruits that hold their shape may be broiled Because fruit have no fat they must be brushed with butter to protect them from drying out

Grilling Grilling gives flavor and caramelized color Choose firm, ripe fruits; overripe fruits fall apart Before grilling, brush the grate with a little oil and grill only long enough to form grill marks then turn Video