Читать книгу Riverford Farm Cook Book: Tales from the Fields, Recipes from the Kitchen - Jane Baxter - Страница 9

Ripening starts on the tree and continues at a rate determined by temperature and atmosphere (particularly concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide and the natural ripening agent, ethylene, which is produced by the fruit itself). The aim of storage for the producer should be to deliver fruit that reaches perfection in your fruit bowl. Once you get the fruit home there is, unfortunately, no doubt that long-stored apples will deteriorate faster and have a shorter window of perfection in your fruit bowl than freshly harvested ones. Some of the early-season varieties of apple, particularly Discovery, are at their best for only about a week. As with all fruit, smell is a good indicator of flavour and ripeness. For the main varieties, ripening is all about the conversion of starch to sugar; they get sweeter up to a point, then the texture dives and they lose moisture, becoming soft and woolly. I suspect that apples, and particularly pears, are more often than not eaten well before their optimum ripeness.

Unless your fruit is becoming overripe, or you are not planning to eat it for a week or more, it is best to keep it in a fruit bowl at room temperature; you will lose much of the flavour and virtually all the perfume if you eat it straight from the fridge. Check the smell and firmness from time to time and try to eat the apples while they are at their best.