Should I Eat Bruised Fruit?

I’ve been eating a lot of fruit recently, as my plan for meals calls for more fruit.  Ins­tead of all the pro­tein that I had been eating, I now find myself eating a lot more bana­nas, apples, blue­be­rries, straw­be­rries, and mangoes.

This got me thinking…

Nor­mally, I carry an apple and a banana with me to work.  Depen­ding on how much wal­king around I do (I carry everything in my bag), my fruit some­ti­mes doesn’t make it to my mouth in per­fect con­di­tion.  Perhaps I drop­ped an apple along the way or my banana got smushed.

Ewww… is that safe to eat?

Is there anything wrong with eating brui­sed fruit?

Not really.

Brui­sing occurs when the cell walls and mem­bra­nes in the fruit rup­ture.  Oxy­gen reacts with the bro­ken part of the fruit, which results in a brown coloring.

Your fruit may have a slightly dif­fe­rent tex­ture and color, but there is really nothing wrong with eating the brui­sed part of the fruit.

Although…

If the fruit has skin that is bro­ken, it needs to be sto­red in the fridge.  Bac­te­ria can get in and that may affect the safety of the food.

And, this goes without saying, if the food has mold on it its pro­bably best to just throw the fruit away.  You could cut the mold away but by the point that the mold beco­mes visi­ble it has had plenty of time to affect the tex­ture, odor, and perhaps the safety of the fruit.

And Here’s a Tip to Save You some $$$

Super­mar­kets typi­cally pac­kage ove­rripe or fla­wed pro­duce and sell it supercheap, but don’t stop there. If there’s a farm stand in your area, ask for “uti­lity fruit”—fruit that that has brui­ses or dis­co­lo­ra­tion but is still good to eat. At my local farm stand, I pic­ked up a box of about 20 uti­lity toma­toes for $4 and made three meals’ worth of deli­cious spaghetti sauce. I also nab­bed some brui­sed peaches. After trim­ming off the mushy parts, I sli­ced them up, mixed in a little lemon juice to pre­vent brow­ning, and froze the sli­ces in bag­gies. Hint: You have to ask for these lef­to­vers, since sto­res and stands don’t usually dis­play them for sale.
http://dailysavings.allyou.com/2009/09/08/ask-for-slightly-bruised-fru its-and-veggies/

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Rela­ted Links:
http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4137081.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/problems/beauty/bruise.htm/p rin­ta­ble

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1. How to Stop Eating Sweets
2. Did Meat Make Us Smarter?
3. In and Out of Shape