Email 
Bookmark 
Print Fresh and Fun Ideas for Fruit
Frozen strawberries, seedless grapes and peeled banana make great frozen snacks. Freeze on trays and place in plastic bags for quick treats. Fresh melon, pineapple, apples, pears or peaches are great barbecued.
For a different twist, stir in 1/4 cup of apricot, peaches or pineapple preserves before serving cooked vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes. Spread pineapple jam or mixed-fruit jellies on squash halves before baking.
Shred unpeeled apples and sauté in butter for 4-5 minutes. Add a little brown sugar if desired. Yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner. If you love fruit juice but are counting calories, dilute it with sparkling water. The easiest and tastiest way to frost grapes is first to wash and dry them. Then dip them first into lemon juice and then into granulated sugar.
For the Best-and Fruitiest-Results
When you need both citrus juice and grated peel, grate before squeezing the juice. Both jobs will be easier.
Scalding tomatoes, peaches or pears in boiling water before peeling makes skins slip right off. To keep fruit from browning, dip into the juice of grapefruit, oranges, lemons or pineapples. Ripen green fruits by placing them in a perforated plastic bag--the holes allow air movement, yet retain the odorless gas the fruits produce to promote ripening. Dried fruit like dates will be easier to chop if you place them in the freezer an hour before chopping.
For fresh off the vine, tree, bush, etc. flavor, microwave fruit until barely warm. To peel an orange or grapefruit to use the sections in a salad, immerse the whole fruit in a pot of boiling-hot water and let stand 4 minutes. Remove fruit from the water and cool until it's easy to handle. When you peel away the skin, the pith should come with it. Any remnants can be pulled off with a grapefruit knife.
Before eating or juicing citrus fruit, microwave it for 15-45 seconds until slightly warm to the touch and it will be much juicier. Dip your peeled bananas in lemon juice-- not just to keep them from turning dark-- but also to add great flavor.
Before juicing citrus fruits, firmly roll on a table or counter for a few seconds to help break the cell walls.
The Best Picks
Pick mangoes that are orange-yellow to red in color and which give slightly with pressure. Green mangoes are hard and have to ripen before you can eat them. To test whether a pineapple is ripe, see if you can pull out a leaf from the crown.
When choosing a cantaloupe, pick one with rough skin. The rougher, the sweeter. For ripeness, the bottom end (not the stem) should be soft.
From Super Tasting Allstar Recipes, collected by parents and teachers of Langley Fundamental Middle School, Langley BC, Canada.
