Fruit is a great source of vitamins, minerals and fiber — nutrients we often don’t get enough of, yet play an important role in our health. Having a fruit bowl around is a delicious way to add more of these important nutrients to your diet.
When it comes to stocking your bowl, some fruits fare better than others at room temperature. Of course, they will still go bad eventually, so eat your fruit often. Here’s a list of twelve counter-friendly fruits to get you started.
The first group of fruits continues to ripen after they’ve been picked. To avoid being stuck with brown bananas and mealy pears, select a variety of both ripe and slightly less ripe fruit from this group. Eat the ripest ones first while the others age to perfection over the course of the week.
- Apricots
- Pears
- Bananas
- Mangoes
- Kiwifruit
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Plums
Unlike the fruits above, the following fruits won’t continue to ripen once they’ve been picked. They should last at least 1–2 weeks at room temperature, so stock up if they happen to be on sale.
- Apples
- Clementines
- Oranges
- Grapefruit
Should your fruit bowl be empty before the end of the week, remember that frozen fruit is just as good for you as fresh, and super convenient. Remember, canned fruit, dried fruit and juice are much higher in sugar and have little-to-no fiber, so limit those when possible.
