Contents of the article:
Modern children find it difficult to believe that their parents and grandparents had a taste of tropical fruits at a mature age, and a hundred years ago unknown pineapples were considered a sign of luxury and excess.
Today, all sorts of fruits from tropical countries and the most remote parts of the world can be found in almost any store. How to choose a pineapple, so as not to be disappointed in the taste of the pulp, hidden under the dense skin? Are there any tricks and tricks that allow to select the one that does not turn out to be immature or, conversely, overcame from the mass of apparently similar fruits?
How does a pineapple look worthy of purchase?
Beautiful, large fruit crowned by sultan from green hard foliage, grown in the tropical part of the globe. Pineapples come to Russia both from Central and South America, and from the countries of Southeast Asia.
Essentially, pineapple, which looks like a single fruit, is a stem that consists of a multitude of berries arranged in a spiral, which are fused together at the ovary stage. The fact that in the past they were "independent" resembles only the characteristic surface of the peel, on which traces of bracts and borders of individual fruits are noticeable.
Inside that the sweet and sour flesh appeared on the inflorescence site resembles a hard core, that is, a stem that has sprouted through all the fruit trees. And on top of a pineapple, such a stalk forms a green rosette.
Everyone who has tried pineapple, which recently grew on a plantation and did not spend long days and weeks on the road, knows the exact answer to the question: “Which pineapples are better?” Fruit falling on the table should be as fresh and ripe as possible. But what to do if the nearest plantation is thousands of kilometers away, and pineapples are sold in the store around the corner, according to travel experience second only to Fyodor Konyukhov?
Is it possible and how to ripen pineapple?
As the consumer is not able to change the speed of fruit delivery from the place of growing to the store, he will have to arm himself with some knowledge when choosing a pineapple. They will help determine the degree of ripeness of the pulp, hidden under the skin, and the quality of the fruit.
Unlike bananas, which are planted on plantations almost green, and then, on arrival at the destination, they are treated with a special gas, which causes an emergency ripening of fruits, and they try to cut the pineapples ripe. The fact is that in bananas and other fruits that can ripen after harvesting, the formation of sugar occurs due to accumulated starchy substances. They are not found in pineapples, and waiting for the green sour fruit to become sweeter and pointless after a while. Therefore, the frequently asked question: "How to ripen pineapple, bought in the store?", We have to give a negative answer.
If the pineapple is not sweet, changing the taste will not help turning the fruit upside down, as it is sometimes advised, or keeping it warm or cold.
Pineapple can be stored in the refrigerator for 3–6 days, and the temperature in this case should not be lower than 6–8 ° C, otherwise the pulp will become watery. It is impossible to leave the fruit warm at all, since fermentation begins quickly under the peel, and the activity of harmful microorganisms in such conditions is sharply activated.
Pineapple left for ripening will not become juicier and sweeter, but ferment or begin to rot.
How to choose the best quality pineapple?
In order not to look for ways to sweeten unripe fruit, you need to do everything possible in the store and find a ripe sweet pineapple. Before choosing a pineapple, it is useful to look at the shop window and select the fruits:
- with the greenest leafy crown;
- with a smooth, not pimply "body";
- with a predominance of golden yellow tones in the color.
Coming closer to the ripe fruit, you can feel the characteristic aroma without signs of acid or a hint of fermentation. To the touch ripe fruit is dense, elastic, but not soft. Pineapple peel looks almost flat, not lumpy.
Although when harvesting on plantations almost all fruits have approximately one degree of ripeness, both green and overripe fruits get on the counters.
Unripe pineapples can be determined:
- by more convex fragments on the surface of the peel;
- for herbal, not fruity;
- for hard and not elastic fruit.
Pineapple growers claim that fully green-colored fruits can be sweet, but choosing a pineapple with at least a small yellow tint in the coloring, the buyer is less likely to be disappointed. These green apples can ripen on the counter and acquire a different taste after storage.
Over-ripe pineapples produce a soft bottom, a sour or yeast-like odor, a color change from yellow to bronze. As soon as the maximum amount of sugar accumulates in the pineapple, the fruit becomes vulnerable to rot. Since pineapples are treated with fungicides and other substances that prevent spoilage before being shipped from plantations, moldy spots or serious softening on the bark may not be detected. But destructive processes are already taking place inside a fruit that has collapsed, damaged, or frostbitten during the transportation of the fetus.
Any darkening of the bark, juice drips, soft patches or cracks are alarming signals that should serve as a reason for not buying.
The ripening of the pineapple starts from its bottom. It is in this part that the fruit is always sweeter, and the color of the ripening fruit begins to change from here. In most varieties, bright golden yellow shades on the peel, at least present on its fragments around the base of the fruit, can be considered a sign of ripeness. The higher the yellow color spreads, the more uniform the sweetness of the pineapple will be.
Is it possible to determine the ripeness of a pineapple leaflet?
Speaking about how to choose a pineapple, many mention the possibility of pulling some leaf from the sultan at the top of the fruit. If the sheet is easily fed and separated even with a little effort, it is considered that the pineapple is ripe. Unfortunately, this opinion is wrong. And pulling the leaves at the counter will only lead to trouble, and not to buy the desired delicacy.
Pineapple leaves, preserved with preservatives, naturally dry during storage and storage, but do not change color.
Therefore, you can easily spoil the goods, but it will not give any useful information about the pineapple. But the change in the color of the foliage from green to brown or full drying of the tuft eloquently testifies to the inadmissibly long finding of the fruit on the counter or violation of the rules for its storage.
Which pineapples are better with a lush sultan or a modest rosette of leaves? As a rule, it is recommended to buy pineapples with an outlet not less than 10 cm high, but not more than two lengths of the fruit itself. After paying the big lush sultan, the buyer gets a more expensive flesh.
Sometimes pineapple leaf sockets are used to decorate the table at ceremonial events or dinner parties. In this case, it is possible to preserve the freshness of the foliage for several days, if the socket is carefully unscrewed from the fruit, cleaned from traces of pulp and wrapped in a bag, put in the refrigerator.
Before buying, you should not only examine the fruit itself and its tuft, but the place where the stem is cut. If it is uneven, excessively elongated or with traces of mold, it is better to choose a pineapple of a more decent type.
