How does ripe fruit look, taste, smell and feel? Add your fav fruit here...

Harrison made an important point today that I feel should be given more attention. Many people attempting a LFRV lifestyle tend to eat unripe fruit. This can potentially be a big problem for health, especially teeth so I felt this was a good time to nip it in the butt as much as possible. I will add this discussion to FAQs too.

So how's it going to work? I don't know I'm open to suggestions but to start I was thinking of posting in the following format...

FRUIT: Cavendish Banana

UNRIPE Cavendish Banana (do not eat):

Appearance: Generally all over perfect yellow/greenish, none or not many 'age spots'
Feel: Too firm, texture not soft to bite, hard to break off stem, won't fall off bunch.
Smell: Not really any smell at all
Taste: Starchy, chalky and can cause constipation and stomach cramps, hard on digestion.

RIPE Cavendish Banana (eat as many as desired!):

Appearance: Generally lots of brown spots almost covering the skin (all the commercial ones in the western world should look like this when ripe). Stringy fiber within the skin attached to banana itself should come away easily or not be present at all.
Feel: Soft but firm, should break/fall off the stem easily without effort
Smell: Sweet, pleasant, appealing. Should not have a fermenting, alcohol-like smell, in this case it has gone off.
Taste: Nice & sweet, easy to chew and should digest seeminglessly

If I've left out details about the cavendish banana or you don't think i've been accurate enough please tell me and I will modify it. This can apply to everyone's posts too. If you don't think the poster has done the fruit justice please add extra details below their description

FRUIT: plantain (contributed by Sunnie)
Unripe

Appearance: any green or yellow areas
Feel: Too firm
Smell: Not really any smell at all
Taste: starchy, hard to digest

Ripe

Appearance: completely black
Feel: yields to pressure, the mushier the better
Smell: Sweet, pleasant, appealing.
Taste: Delicious

FRUIT: Kent Mangoes (Contributed by HAPPEE)
Unripe:

Appearance: green skin, when cut open flesh is a pale-ish yellow, almost white
Feel: very hard, too firm, heavy
Smell: very faint smell
Taste: more acid than sweet, muted mango flavor

Ripe: (YUM!)

Appearance: skin is a mix of red, orange, and sometimes a touch of green, inside flesh is a dark yellow/orange color
Feel: soft and squishy :D
Smell: sweet delicious mango
Taste: DELISH! flesh almost melts in your mouth!

FRUIT: Pears (details can apply to most common pear varieties)

Please note some varieties should be eaten slightly firmer but this particular one needs to be soft. There are over 3000 known varieties on the planet... (BTW - These are all unripe and hard)

UNRIPE PEAR (Bartlett or Green Anjou variety I believe...) NOTE THE GREEN ONES ARE UNRIPE IN THIS PIC

Appearance: Greenish, sometimes yellow
Feel: Hard, no 'give' in the flesh
Smell: Nothing or very faint
Taste: Crunchy, tart, starchy

RIPE PEAR:

Appearance: Golden yellow with brownish skin tones/brown (depending on variety but never green). Quite old and almost "beaten up" looking
Feel: Soft, teeth sink into skin EASILY, no crunch, flesh almost melts in mouth.
Smell: Beautiful sweet aroma, that's almost intoxicating
Taste: Yummy! Very sweet, shouldn't be powerdery

FRUIT: Black mission figs (Contributed by Figgie)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Unripe:

Appearance: Firm, like a full balloon. Inside pink/pale, clearly defined fibers, (if just picked what sap will ooze from stem - do not eat!)
Feel: Firm, hard to slight give
Smell: none
Taste: none to very mild, watery

Ripe:

Appearance: squishy, slightly deflated balloon, may be leaking clear/amber syrup. Inside brown/tan, few if any fibers, seeds evident.
Feel: squishy, very soft. A ripe fig is easy to pinch apart between two fingers. Fingers should go right through it with ease. Unripe figs put up a fight
Smell: mildly sweet
Taste: syrupy, sweet, devine!

FRUIT: Gold Kiwi
Unripe:

Appearance: Lighter green skin than when ripe, tight perfect oblong shape. Inside is less translucent and the colour is more "solid" and perfect looking. The inside translucent colour is starting to extend to the rims on this one below, its nearly there but a few more days would be sweeter. It is sweeter and riper than the one below it.
Feel: Hard, skin is tight, smooth and firm
Smell: Nothing
Taste: Sour, tangy, acidic - not sweet

Ripe:

Appearance: Definitely darker colour of Skin and skin is looser, sometimes wrinkly, definitely not tight. Inside is more beaten up looking and translucent
See how dark the full one in the back is?

Feel: Soft but not squishy, still holds it shape but not tight like a drum
Smell: Sweet, tutti fruiti odour
Taste: Super sweet, not an ounce of acidic, sour taste

(I'm using this example for the DARK ONE - notice how there are different shades of brown here? The darker one is the ripe one...the other ones are a good comparison to it.

FRUIT: Green Kiwi (challenging!)
Unripe:

Appearance: Very tight skin. Inside is darker solid green and white
Feel: Hard
Smell: No
Taste: Don't do it! Tart, acidic, sour..not sweet

RIPE:

Appearance: Often has uneven feel, like dents in skin not perfectly oval shaped. Less solid colour inside, more translucent
Feel: Soft
Smell: Sweet, lovely, not as strong as some fruits
Taste: Sweet but not as sweet as gold kiwi's, no sour or acidic taste

FRUIT: White Dragonfruit

UNRIPE:

Skin Appearance: Generally smaller in size but not always, depends on variety. The "leaves" that come off the side of the fruit are quite close together and stiff, these "leaves" look Flesh fresh and green. Skin is thicker.
Flesh Appearance: Flesh is sometimes translucent looking when unripe, a small amount of translucency is ok. Sometimes watery consistency that sticks to skin.
Feel: Very firm, skin is pulled tight, a little more difficult to open fruit with fingers.
Smell: No smell
Taste: Tart, sour

RIPE WHITE:

Skin Appearance: Generally fuller looking, "leaves" are old almost dead looking (sometimes a slight green colour) and further apart due to expanded size. Skin is quite a bit thinner (see above) and looks a little darker and translucent sometimes.
Flesh Appearance: Solid white colour is consistently better than translucent. Translucent patches are generally not tasty. Flesh should break into cubes easily when extracted.
Feel: Similar to unripe but you can feel the skin exploding beneath to skin to get out, unlike unripe. Should be able to peel the fruit like a
Smell: Not a lot of odour at all, a mild tropical sweet smell.
Taste: A good white dragonfruit is amazing, moderately sweet, not sour or tart at all.

UNRIPE RED:

Skin Appearance: Hard, perfect looking, no blemishes
Flesh Appearance: Lighter red/purple color
Feel: Quite hard, skin feels really tightly pulled around flesh, harder to get into
Smell: Nothing
Taste: Not pleasant, sour

RIPE RED:

I've had them like this and they taste great...

Skin Appearance: Battered, bruised, sometimes with "sores" on skin. Is looser on skin.
Flesh Appearance: Delicate, watery, a spoon glides through it
Feel: Quite loose, easy to peel off, more pliable.
Smell: Subtle sweet fruity
Taste: When a red dragonfruit is grown correctly and left until perfectly ripe it is a religious experience! Tastes like sort of like a sweet raspberry cuccumber.

PLUM (Balkan variety called Madzarka) - Contributed by Nikola

UNRIPE PLUM: hard, red or green skin, inside sour and green color

RIPE PLUM: not much bigger than cherry, very sweeeet:) 1$/kg:))) And usually nobody put pesticide on it because it is no commercial variety (sold by local farmers only) and usually left for jam cooking or as food for pigs!!! And me!:)))
soft, blue skin, inside dark orange color, taste like sweet jam

PLEASE SHARE YOUR FRUIT PICS & DESCRIPTION (can you use the same format as I have above for consistency :-)

Replies

Dr. T February 27, 2017 at 2:56am

Very Helpful! Thank you!
Jennifer Liepin January 20, 2017 at 11:03am

To ripen green bananas you can place in a low heated oven for 15 minutes. Not as good as naturally ripened bananas, but it is helpful when you are in a pinch.
vegan witch Ⓥ March 17, 2014 at 8:43pm

its got to LOOK like you want to eat it

its got to SMELL like you want to eat it



its go to TASTE like you want to eat



after that - its all history except a few seeds or left over skins hahahaha
- Windlord > vegan witch Ⓥ March 18, 2014 at 4:16pm
  
  :D
- Nini! > vegan witch Ⓥ March 18, 2014 at 1:39pm
  
  omg tooo cute!
Nini! March 16, 2014 at 9:36am

This is a great guide for starters! I have some nectarines that I was waiting to become ripe but now one of them is showing signs of mold...should I just throw it away (its still to hard to eat) or refrigerate them?
- Windlord > Nini! March 17, 2014 at 6:39pm
  
  Get yo money back. They were clearly picked too early, and should never have been sold.
- Malcolm Bone > Nini! March 16, 2014 at 11:10pm
  
  Yes, throw them away, they were picked way too early and can never be good. For the sugars to be perfectly formed the fruit must be still on the tree, starting to soften and the color going dull rather than being shiny. Refrigeration is not part of nature and thus not the salvation of fruit, it is usually the ruination of it.
  - Nini! > Malcolm Bone March 17, 2014 at 3:48pm
    
    Thanks so much for the tip~
Malcolm Bone October 31, 2013 at 10:39am

Good start but there is a heck of a lot more to it than that. If one relies on fruit for one's sustenance then it has to be quality fruit not just edible fruit. The subject is too large to cover in a post so I am including a link that covers most of the important aspects and includes pictures of what to look for when selecting fruit.

http://bulletmaker.com/Fruit/Gdfruit.htm

I am a fruit grower.

Cheers

Malcolm

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