Living in the tropics comes with many perks: fresh fruit, for example! Choosing the ripest and freshest fruit for your home can be a little tricky if you aren’t familiar with what a fruit looks or smell like when ripe. Use this cheat sheet to help you out with picking the best ones.
Mangoes
Ripe mangoes smell sweet at the stem end and are bright yellow when ripe. If they are soft, mushy, and have red spots, they are overripe.
Pineapples
Pineapples smell sweet when ripe and smell like nothing when they are unripe. Look for bright, green stems and look out for a slight tenderness when you give it a soft squeeze. Also, when it comes, to pineapples, the heavier, the better! This means that your fruit it ripe and juicy.
Avocados
Pluck out the stem of the avocado and look at the color inside: light green means it is ready to eat, brown means it is overripe, and difficulty plucking out the stem means that it still needs to ripen. Ripe avocados are also tender when given a very light squeeze.
Tomatoes
Look for heavy, red tomatoes when shopping for the ripest ones. A little too soft may mean that they are overripe, to look for ones that give only slightly when pressed into.
Watermelons
Avoid knocking on them—the sound that you hear has absolutely nothing to do with a ripeness of a watermelon! All you have to do is smell the fruit: it is ripe if it smells sweet.
In general, ripe fruits will smell sweet, be slightly tender, and should be hefty. Keep these guidelines in mind and you’ll be a pro at the grocery fruit aisle in no time.
