1. A Basket of Fruit
Most fruits are better stored at room temperature, since refrigerating them can cause a loss of sugar, flavor and nutrients. Watermelon can keep for 14 to 21 days at room temperature, but only last about a week in the refrigerator, and if stored cool its lycopene and beta carotene levels drop dramatically. Most fresh fruit will keep for 3 to 5 days at room temperature, so it's best to only buy what you will eat immediately. Pit fruit such as peaches, apricots, plums and mangoes can be purchased slightly under ripe and allowed to ripen slowly over the course of a few days. You can ripen them more quickly by storing them in a paper bag, either by themselves or with an apple, since the fruits give off a gas called ethylene and keeping under ripe fruits in a paper bag concentrates the ethylene. Bananas should never be refrigerated as the fruit will quickly turn brown, mushy and unappealing. Tomatoes, too, should always be stored at room temperature--the refrigerator will make the flesh mealy and will greatly damage its vitamin content.
2. Stay Cool
Some fresh fruits, however, keep best in the refrigerator and will spoil at room temperature if left out too long. These include grapes, berries and pineapple. Apples and pears may also be stored in the refrigerator to keep them longer. A better alternative for apples is to keep them in a root cellar or basement, some place cool and dark where the temperature stays around 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit--this is how people kept fresh fruit all winter before the days of refrigeration. A great way to eat more fruit is to prepare a big bowl of fruit salad at once to enjoy throughout the week. Any fruit that has been peeled or cut up should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator to keep them fresh, and you can dress your fruit salad lightly in lemon juice to keep the fruit from oxidizing and turning brown. If you want to include bananas or kiwi in your fruit salad, add them at the last minute and don't refrigerate them.
3. Freezing a Surplus
At the height of the summer harvest--or where there's a good sale at the supermarket--there is simply too much fruit to be able to eat it all before it spoils. Luckily, many fruits freeze quite well, and frozen fruit can be used in smoothies or for baking pies or muffins. To freeze berries, first remove any stems or leaves, then rinse them well and pat them dry. Spread the berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight, then transfer them to an airtight plastic bag. Sliced mangoes or peaches can be frozen in much the same way. Frozen fruit will keep up to a year, but is best used within 6 months, before ice crystals begin to form.
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