We may all be guilty of occasionally leaving our fruits out on the counter for a little past their “best by” dates. Fruits often have short lifespans and may ripen too quickly before we get to actually use them. However, instead of throwing out these overripe fruits, avoid food waste and give them a second life. As long as your overripe fruits are not rotten or spoiled, they can still be used for other terrific purposes.
Below, we listed 5 suggestions for how to use your overripe fruits:
Make Your Own Jams, Jellies, and Sauces
If your overripe fruits have become mushy, turning them into jams, jellies, sauces, etc. is a terrific way to make use of them. These delicious spreads can easily be made in a saucepan with a little lemon juice, sugar, and spices simmered over low heat. These spreads can be enjoyed on toast, pastries, or poured over pancakes. You can also make a tasty applesauce with all your overripe apples.
Blend Them into Drinks
Juicing or blending your overripe fruits into smoothies is a simple way to use up all your less-than-perfect fruits. Depending on the fruit, soft and overripe fruit may taste even sweeter than when fresh. And with an endless number of ingredient options, you can get creative and blend your own fruit smoothies with any combination of the overripe fruits you may have in your kitchen.
Bake Them
Adding your overripe fruits to breads, pies, crumbles, and just about any other baked good is another great way to use them up. Fruits such as peaches, strawberries and pears make great fillings for cobblers and crumbles. And especially when it comes to bananas, they taste even sweeter when overripe, so don’t be afraid to use ones with lots of bruising and bake them into delicious breads and muffins.
Add Them to Ice Creams
Incorporate your overripe fruits into plain vanilla ice creams to add a hint of a delicious, fruity flavor. Your overripe fruits also make excellent toppings for ice cream sundaes. You can also freeze your fruits and turn them into delicious homemade sorbets and ice creams.
Freeze Them for Later
Freezing your overripe fruits to use for smoothies or baking at a later time is also another great option. Your freezer can help preserve freshness and extend the life of your fruits. In addition, fruits such as grapes taste delicious when frozen and make for a refreshing snack on a hot summer day.