How To Keep Your Cut Fruit From Browning Without Lemon Juice
Want to transport cut fruit without discovering those unsightly brown edges later? Lemon juice is the method that many people know and love to keep their fruit slices looking fresh at all times, but is it the only way?
While lemon juice may be seen as the "leader" in the fruit freshness world, it's far from the only way to help fruit retain its color and texture. With spring and summer fruit coming into season and picnics and parties abounding, it's as good of a time as ever to learn some other tricks of the trade that'll keep your fruit fresher. A lemon juice soak is still a great way to keep your fruit from browning, but if you don't have lemon juice available, just two common kitchen ingredients are just as effective. You may not think to pair them together to soak your fruit, but this hack works on multiple fruit types and will leave it looking like you just cut it.
How to keep your fruit looking fresh without lemon juice
You don't need lemon juice to transform fruit from browning and unappetizing to firm and mouth-watering. When it comes to preventing fruit from losing its texture, water and honey make a dynamic duo and get the job done just as well.
It's important to get the ratio of honey to water correct so that your fruit has the best chance of looking crisp. Just two tablespoons of honey and one cup of water will do the trick. Once you mix the two together, soak your fruit in the mixture for 30 seconds. It may not sound like long, but just half a minute in a "honey water bath" does fruit plenty of good — your fruit will look and taste fresh for up to eight hours after you soak it. It's all thanks to a peptide in the honey that reacts with the elements in air to stop the oxidation process. Science is pretty cool, but it's even better when it can make your fruit look just as fresh as it did the moment you cut it.
Another way to keep fruit from browning
Brown fruit looks icky on a charcuterie board, so it's natural that curious people have spent ages perfecting a way to prevent fruit slices from discoloring. Thankfully, there are many ways to firm and freshen up your fruit — and one requires neither lemon juice nor honey.
Club soda can keep your fruit looking fresh just as well as lemon juice or honey and water can. Cookbook author Nicole Keshishian Modic stunned Instagram users by placing peach slices in club soda. After just five minutes submerged in the soda, the peach slices were visibly firmer and brighter. Although other methods may work better on certain types of fruit, the club soda trick works well on all types of stone fruit (like peaches and plums) and does a pretty good job of reducing brownness in apples. Whether you opt to give your banana slices a soak in honey and water or soak your apricots in club soda, there are plenty of ways to make your fruit fresh, crisp, and beautiful for any event.