Here are some fruit hacks to keep your kitchen smart and make eating much more fun!
Boozy chillers
Grapes are the delicious tiny bites of heavenly nectar. They go very well when paired with wine! Freeze some and use instead of ice cubes to keep your wine chilled. They won’t get watery and you will get tasty bites with every sip! You can also make tiny ice cubes of other fruits and use them in cocktails for chill and taste. They are a smart replacement for boring ice-cubes to jazz up your house parties.
Healthy snacks
Who said that healthy snacks have to be bland and boring! Cut fruits like apple, strawberries, and bananas into tiny cubes. Stick a toothpick into each piece and dip them into peanut butter or melted chocolate. Put the dipped pieces into fridge to harden for 20-30 minutes. Snack on them on a lazy movie night or use them during those midnight hunger pangs. Freezing is not compulsory as you can simultaneously dip the fruit in desired dips and eat at that very moment. Yummy!
Juicy Lemons
When life gives lemons – that too dry – you have got to boil them! That’s right! Due to outdoor exposure for a longer period of time, lemons tend to dry up. Or at times you may find some dried ones in your fresh
stock! Take a glass bowl filled with fresh clean water and put the lemons in it. Microwave it for 15-20 seconds. On cutting those lemons you will find them full of juice! This quick-fix hack will save your life in the parties!
Keeping it fresh
Bananas are very hard to keep fresh for long. Soon you see the dark blotches on them and they rot in a few days. Especially in summers, they act like headstrong teenagers! To avoid that, buy a fresh bunch of bananas and wrap a plastic wrap around the stem. This will keep the bananas fresh for longer. Good utilization of the plastic too! (Anyhow you would remove the skin so that plastic contact won’t worry you!)
Speed up ripening
Bought a new lot of fruits but they are too raw to eat? If you want to consume the fruit a little sooner, there is a hack for that as well! Fruits like banana, avocado, mango and papaya will ripen faster if wrapped in a paper bag. Keep that away for a day in heated place and see the results next day. You will have fresh ripe fruits ready to consume!
Fruit Bowl
Making a fruit salad in a routine bowl is passè. Instead, make it ‘an all fruit business’! Take a large watermelon and cut it in half horizontally. Scoop out all the inner pulp so that only watermelon shell remains. Use it to fill up with different types of chopped fruits like melon, mangoes, avocadoes, grapes, melons and what not. What better party attraction than a natural fruit bowl! Day parties are incomplete without this hack. Eat in style!
Brown apples- no more
We all hate it when those apples turn brownish just few minutes after cutting! It happens due to simple science. As soon as the apple comes in contact with oxygen, oxidation happens, resulting in the brown color. It does not spoil the taste, but ceases to look appetizing. To stop that from happening, cut the apple in vertical slices and put it back together with a rubber band. This will keep apples fresh and white for longer.
Ripe fruit every time
Fruit shopping isn’t an easy job for everyone. It is so frustrating to find unripe ones when you actually start eating them. To avoid that whenever you go to market, smell the fruit before selecting it. A well ripe fruit will give out strong delicious aroma. Follow the scent to a mouthwatering fruit. Also, do not shy away from buying a fruit with few bumps on it. It usually means that a bird or bee has tasted the fruit. They only chose the ones that are sweet, hence only go for the bumpy ones because the chances are that they are the sweetest ones in the pile!
Home-made Ice Cream
Who doesn’t want a delicious ice cream without all the calories and preservatives! Cut some ripe bananas and freeze for a day or two. This way they won’t rot and stay fresh for days. Take out the frozen bananas and blend them in a mixer. You can add honey for taste. Freeze the resulting paste for another 3-4 hours after blending. You have your home-made ice cream ready! Top it with some fresh fruit or chocolate syrup. You can be more creative with the ingredients and add combinations of frozen fruits and chocolate chips as well.
Strawberry re-plantation
This peculiar hack will enable you to grow strawberries in your own home! Take an egg and carefully empty it of its contents by poking a little hole on the top, keeping rest of the egg intact. Meanwhile remove strawberry seeds with the help of a toothpick. Put fertile soil into the egg shell and add strawberry seeds into it. Keep the soil damp and ensure that it gets enough sunlight. In a few weeks watch a little bud growing inside the egg! When that happens, place it in a pot and enjoy you own personal indoor strawberry farm.