Recently, my roommate Sam, who usually dines on only the greasiest fast food fare, decided it was time to start picking healthier snacks – so, inexplicably, he brought home a mango! A few nights before, Sam had tried a piece of a mango I had cut up and loved its tartness and texture. Unfortunately, at the grocery store, Sam thought that the harder the mango the better the mango. After a couple of grueling bites out of the under-ripe mango, Sam threw the rest of it away. Sam made a potentially expensive mistake – for his pocketbook and his taste buds.

Every piece of fruit was produced by nature to have slightly different flavor, texture, and degree of ripeness. For the most part, quality control is up to the consumer. Different types of fruit have different indicators that alert the savvy fruit buyer to its freshness, ripeness, and flavor. For example, picking an apple for its hardness and crispness is the right idea. Picking a mango for the same attributes will lead to buyer’s regret.

All Shapes and Sizes

Part of the beauty of fruit is that there are so many available at most grocery stores. Supermarket fruit staples include apples, oranges, and bananas, but more and more markets are introducing more exotic and tropical fruits into their line-ups, including papayas, tangelos, exotic melons, Asian pears, and pluots to name just a few.

Fruits, because of their versatility, are an increasingly common ingredient in recipes like apple raisin crepes, mango-pineapple-lime cheesecake, and Caribbean mango salsa. Even if you are sticking to the tried and true block party fruit salad – remember that mushy strawberries or overly crispy musk melon slices will take away from the allure of the other salad components.

Picking Delicious Berries

Berries are known for their powerful antioxidants and for being vitamin-rich. Popular in low-carb diets, fresh summer berries are the perfect addition to any diet.

• With strawberries, pick only the cartons with the reddest, plumpest berries. Strawberries that still have patches of green or white are not yet ripe. Once strawberries are picked from the vine, they will not continue to ripen.
• Select cartons of blueberries that are wholly blue. Blueberries with a reddish tone will taste overly tart in those classic blueberry pancakes.
• Choose raspberries that have a rich berry scent. Raspberries that still have green stems on them are not ripe. Raspberries can be especially expensive, so be discriminating.
• There are many different varieties of cherries: Bing (very common), Lambert, sour cherries, Royal Ann, etc. Select sweeter varieties like Bing when they still have a stem and are firm. When choosing sour cherries for a tart pie, a gentle pull of the stem should indicate whether they will be suitable. If the stem pulls of easily – the cherry is ripe and flavorful.

Choosing Crisp Apples

When I was little, it was my job to select the apples for my family. I would grip my hand around a Red Delicious and try to make an indent with my thumb. If the flesh under the skin of the apple seem hard or created a small “crisp” sound, that apple went into our shopping cart. Apples that felt softer under the pressure of my thumb tended to be mealy. Most apples can be picked by this method except for perhaps Yellow Delicious, which tend to feel softer to the touch. The skins and the flesh of Yellow Delicious apples are springier. For Braeburn, Granny Smith, and Pink Lady varieties – crispiness is essential to a savory flavor.

Peaches, Nectarines, and Plums

With this trio (and even pluots), plumpness is key. The more plump and full the fruit feels, the juicier it will be. If you apply pressure on the skin of the fruit, the fruit should give way a little bit. If you have discovered that the peaches you have bought are still hard inside, put them in a brown paper bag for a day or so. They will ripen to be characteristically luscious and delectable.

Tropical Fruit

• Mangos: Don’t worry that the mango you have selected is almost all green or red, as color does not indicate how ripe it will be. Put a little pressure on the fruit as you would a peach. If the flesh under the skin gives way a little bit, the mango is ripe.
• Papayas: It’s hard to go wrong with papayas, but be sure to pick one that has changed from its original, unripe, green color to a richer yellowish or orangey color.
• Passion Fruit: Unlike most fruits, passion fruit is best when the skin sags and is wrinkly. Make sure the fruit is still firm though. Like watermelon, look for passion fruit that is heavy and dense.

Bananas – Ripe and Ready

Almost everyone has experience buying bananas. Some people pick bananas that are still green because they do not plan to eat them right away or just like them to have a firmer, slicker flesh. Other people like to buy ripened, browned or spotted bananas to use them in making banana bread and other recipes. Buy a perfectly yellow banana with perhaps a slightly green stem if you plan on eating them today or tomorrow.

Other varieties of bananas, like plantains, do not have that characteristic banana yellow skin color. These varieties appear darker and look like smaller, very ripe bananas. Make sure when selecting these that their skins look firm, not slackened and wrinkled.

Mouth-watering Melons

Since melons have a hard exterior, it is often hard to tell whether they will be good or not. Watermelons are especially hard to read. A good rule of thumb to follow with melons (or any fruit for that matter) is to buy them in season and at a low price. The lower the price of fruit – the better that fruit will taste. Out-of-season fruit is usually more expensive and not as flavorful.

• Cantaloupe/Muskmelon: Cantaloupes are the easiest of the melons to spot a ripe one – they give off an aroma that’s hard to miss. Melons that look greenish are not yet ripe. But if you buy a not-quite-ripe cantaloupe, let it set out and ripen for a few days. Look for the most equally rounded, or symmetrical, melon.
• Honeydew: My mom and I joke that we have only tasted good honeydew twice in our lives. That said – delicious honeydew is hard to find, but a little searching reaps a sweet, succulent melon. Look for honeydew that is slightly yellowed with a little bit of spotting on the rind. Honeydew that feels sticky to the touch is ripe and ready. Smell the honeydew. If it has a wonderful, sweet scent – it will surely be delicious.
• Watermelon: The perfect watermelon provides quite the summer treat, cooling us down after a hot summer day. Watermelons are quite the fruit purchase – what other fruits weigh up to fifteen pounds each! Select a watermelon that has few bruises or cuts to the flesh. A good watermelon is dense with water, so a smaller-looking watermelon that is heavier than a larger-looking one will be a better choice. Make sure the watermelon has a yellow belly, meaning the watermelon was sun-ripened.

Great Grapes

Whether you like tart green grapes or sweet red or black grapes, pick bunches that are plump and picturesque enough to be featured in a Renaissance still-life. Grapes should feel firm, not soft. The skins should be tight on the flesh of the grapes, not saggy or wrinkly.

Let’s Go Shopping!

Whether you are trying to incorporate fruits into a healthy lifestyle or, perhaps, just discovered a taste for mangos, always examine each piece of fruit’s texture, smell, and color before you purchase. Because you usually won’t be allowed to sample the fruit while in the supermarket (and especially not a ten-pound watermelon), these indicators are vital for determining what fruit to put in that fruit salad or whether it’s really such a good idea to serve watermelon in February. Bon appetite!