Why does fruit turn brown after peeling in the first place? This is a question surely everyone has asked themselves. As soon as you have peeled the fruit, it turns brown within a very short time. This does not look particularly attractive, especially when the fruit is to be served to guests on a platter. Apples and bananas in particular tend to develop brown spots rather quickly. But who likes biting into a fruit that looks unattractive and already old?
This color reaction is caused by contact with air. The so-called polyphenols, which are present in the fruit, react when they meet oxygen, and a brownish substance forms on the surface of the fruit.
Why does the chemical reaction occur?
As soon as the skin of the fruit is damaged or even completely removed from the fruit, millions of cells in the fruit also rupture and come into contact with the air. When the cells rupture, numerous compounds and substances are also released – including PPO (short for polyphenols), which changes its entire structure when combined with oxygen. This change leads to dark discoloration. It may not look particularly appetizing, but it is safe to eat and, above all, not harmful to health.
Which tips also prevent fruit from turning brown?
Lemon juice
Always drizzle freshly sliced fruits such as apples, pears, bananas, etc. with Lemon juice right away; this way they will not turn brown. As a measure, you can say that the juice of one lemon is enough for about one kilo of cut fruit.
Syrup
If you do not have a lemon at home, you can also use Syrup do this: Boil water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio and pour it over the fruit.
vinegar water
Another option is vinegar: Place the peeled fruit in a little vinegar water; this also prevents browning.
Salt water
Place the freshly cut fruit in a bowl with lightly salted water – this way the fruit will not turn brown, but it will not taste like salt water or salty either.
Add juice-releasing fruits
If the fruits in a fruit salad are not supposed to turn brown, simply add a few juice-releasing fruits to the salad. Oranges, grapefruits, grapes, strawberries, and melons have a special acidic substance, which protects the color of bananas and apples.
Ascorbic acid
Add a heaping teaspoon of ascorbic acid to approx. 1-2 liters of water and stir the mixture thoroughly. Then apple pieces, for example, can be dipped into it to preserve the yellow color.
Vitamin C or multivitamin effervescent tablets
If you do not have ascorbic acid on hand, you can also very effectively dissolve vitamin C or multivitamin effervescent tablets in a little water and pour it over the fruit.
Orange juice
Drizzling with Orange juice also keeps brown spots and patches away.
Vanilla sugar
If you put vanillin sugar on the cut surfaces of freshly sliced apple slices, they remain crisp and also take on a special aroma.
Do the bruises and brown discolorations on fruit actually taste a little sweeter?
Believe it or not: fruit really does taste sweeter after being cut. Incidentally, this phenomenon can also be observed at the bruised spots on fruit. If an apple falls from the tree, for example, it essentially has a “wound.” The cells in this fruit have been damaged, and the cells react accordingly. Just like with us humans, the fruit now tries to protect itself – a kind of wound healing occurs. The apple tries to “breathe” more, and this produces a large amount of malic acid. However, once the amount of acid has been used up, the mixture naturally tastes less sour. In fact, it even tastes a little sweeter to us. However, this does not mean that there is more sugar in this part of the fruit, but only that the acid has disappeared and therefore more room for sweetness remains.
Read also:Â Fruit with monster decoration
Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at
