If you keep all your fruit in a bowl or on the kitchen table, you're not alone.
What you might not know is the humble fruit bowl is unlikely to be the best way to store a variety of different fruits.
"Keeping all your fruit in one bowl isn't the best way to keep fruit fresh," says Thanh Truong, a fruiterer and cook based in Melbourne.
Different fruits, he says, have "competing interests".
Some fruits, like apples, are best kept cool in the fridge.
Others, like bananas, need warmer temperatures to ripen and are best stored at room temperature.
But when you keep different fruits together there can be problems, and potentially food waste.
What to know about ethylene
If you've ever noticed fruit in a bowl ripening quicker than usual, the culprit is likely ethylene, an important plant hormone that helps fruit ripen.
Hannah James is a post-harvest physiologist. She studies how food ripens to help farmers keep their produce in good condition after it's harvested.
Many common fruits like bananas, avocados and apples are "climacteric", Dr James explains, meaning they ripen after they're harvested.
As climacteric fruits ripen, they emit ethylene, which can speed up the ripening of other nearby fruit and vegetables.
"Plants will respond to ethylene that's produced by other plants. It tells them, 'Hey, it's time to ripen,'" she says.
"If you've got bananas, apples and peaches together in a fruit bowl, they will potentially all ripen faster than you would like [because of the ethylene].
"It's helpful if you can understand how ethylene works, so you can use it to your advantage."
For example, if you have an under-ripe avocado, you could speed up ripening by putting it in a brown paper bag with a banana.
"The banana is going to produce ethylene, and by putting it in a paper bag you trap that ethylene, and that builds up. The avocado will see it, and start to ripen," Dr James explains.
Go for various fruit plates over one fruit bowl
If you want to slow down the ripening process, it helps to keep your fruit out of the fruit bowl.
Mr Truong's suggestion is to keep different fruits separate. And he prefers fruit plates to fruit bowls for storage at room temperature.
"Often some fruits can get stuck at the bottom of [fruit bowls] and they ripen much quicker, and go off much quicker," he says.
"With the plate, there's much more aeration. I put one fruit on each plate, and it allows each of the fruits to ripen at their own pace, which you can manage and control."
Another option is to keep fruit in the fridge. As you may know from experience, it can slow down the ripening process.
"By reducing the temperature, we reduce the rate of respiration, [and we] reduce ethylene production. That's why products in the fridge will last longer," Dr James says.
But some fruits are better kept out of the cold.
"Tropical fruit you don't want to get too cold. They get damaged by fridge temperatures," she says.
"That's why bananas in the fridge will turn black, and mangoes in the fridge don't tend to do too well."
The right temperature to store your fruit
Learning to store fruit properly can help prevent food waste, keep your fruit fresher for longer, and improve your eating experience, Mr Truong says.
Here's a quick guide from the University of California for the best conditions for storing some of the most common fruits.
Store in the fridge
- Apples (> 7 days)
- Apricots (Mr Truong says apricots can be stored at room temperature too)
- Nashi pears
- Berries
- Figs
- Grapes
- Cut fruit
Store only at room temperature
- Apples (< 7 days)
- Bananas
- Grapefruit
- Citrus fruit (oranges/lemons/limes/mandarins)
- Mangoes
- Papayas
- Persimmons
- Pineapples
- Plantains
- Pomegranates
- Watermelons
Ripen at room temperature then store in the fridge
- Avocados
- Kiwis
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Pears
- Plums
Why it's important to wash fruit before you eat it
Lydia Buchtmann, a spokesperson for the Food Safety Information Council, says you should always wash fruit before you eat it.
"The secret is to wash it just before you eat it. Because if you do too soon, and leave it in a bowl or the fridge, it can grow mould and make you sick," she says.
"People forget fruit grows outside. It can get contaminated, it could be from birds, animals or people's dirty hands. It's always a good idea to wash fruit under running water."
Ms Buchtmann says it's fine to use a fruit bowl from a food safety perspective, but it's important to keep an eye out for mouldy fruit.
"Don't be tempted to cut off the mouldy bit, because the mould can grow inside and you may not be able to see it," she says.
"It's really not a good idea."
Finally, if you're buying pre-cut fruit, make sure to check the instructions for storage and consume the fruit before the use-by date.
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