Before you contact us to harvest your fruit tree, please read the following to check if your fruit is ready!
Ripening involves chemical processes that change starches into sugars, break down fruit acids, change the fruit colour and develop the aromatic compounds that characterise the particular fruit. On a large tree, fruit will ripen over a few weeks, starting from parts of the tree that receive the most sunlight. The peak harvest time for each tree may vary a lot from year to year depending on local weather conditions. Bird damage is not a good guide. Birds will taste fruit before it’s ripe enough for our palates, or may peck through to eat just the seeds.
We will organise Hidden Orchard picks for optimal ripeness. This may mean postponing for a week or two when appropriate.
A. Non-ripening fruit
Fruit listed below stops ripening once it is picked – it may soften, but won’t develop more sugars or flavour. So it’s best to leave these types on the plant and taste a sample every few days til the flavour, colour and softness tell you it’s ripe.
- Berries (including raspberry and other brambleberries, blueberry, strawberry).
- Cherry – sweetness increases in the last few days of ripening, so wait and keep tasting til the flavour peaks. Sour cherries will come off the stem when ripe, sweet cherries will not.
- Fig – ready when the neck softens so the fruit hangs down
- Grape – keep tasting (from both shaded and sunny bunches) til they are uniformly sweet.
- Mulberry – pick fruit when soft and fully coloured.
- Olive – for ripe green olives, wait til the juice turns from clear to cloudy. All olives will turn black in time if left on the tree. Once picked they may spoil if not processed within 2-3 days.
- Citrus – fruit should be firm, heavy for its size, and well coloured. It may still be extremely sour as citrus has a long ripening time.
- Pomegranate – skin should be deep red with no remaining green. Fruit should be round and fat. Splitting indicates over-ripeness.
B. Fruits that keep ripening after picking
- Apple – depending on variety, may be palatable before perfectly ripe. Seeds should be brown, not pale. Should come off the tree easily with an upward twist.
- All stone fruits – apricot, nectarine, peach and plum – best picked when firm and the base colour has changed from green to yellow or red, depending on the variety. See {link: How to ripen list B fruits}
- Avocado – mature on the tree, but only ripen after being picked.
- Kiwifruit – doesn’t ripen on the vine. Pick as needed when full sized, and store in a cool dry place indoors for two to three days.
- Medlar – pick in late autumn and store in a cool dry place til very soft and brown (bletted). It looks unusual but is safe to eat, as long as there is no mould. Bletting is not the same as “going off” or mouldy.
- Passionfruit – pick when the fruit is heavy, fully coloured, and yields slightly to the touch. Wrinkled skin means extra sweetness.
- Pear – ripen from the inside out, so if left on the tree will spoil by the time they feel soft. They may also develop hard spots like cherry pips, known as “stone cells”. Pick pears while still hard; tilt the pear sideways and lift, and if it’s ready, it will detach from the branch.
- Persimmon – pick when fully coloured (deep apricot to tomato red, depending on variety). Non-astringent persimmons can be eaten firm, or softened indoors. Astringent persimmons must be left to sit til very soft and jelly-like.
- Quince – when they start to drop they are over-ripe. Quinces can also be left to blet for a delicious treat similar to quince paste, but less sugary.
How to ripen list B fruits
Store in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight. If space permits, spread fruit out on paper towel so individual pieces are not touching, to reduce any mould from spreading. Try leaving plums to fully soften over several weeks, for an amazing flavour experience. Individual fruits from list B will ripen more quickly when placed in a paper bag with a ripe apple or banana – these fruits naturally release ethylene gas, which hastens ripening.
Nerdy stuff
Ripening involves chemical processes that change starches into sugars, break down fruit acids, change the fruit colour and develop the aromatic compounds that characterise the particular fruit. Peak ripeness is known as the climacteric, after which the fruit will start to deteriorate. Many fruits release the gas ethylene as they approach the climacteric, which triggers enzyme production and accelerates the ripening process. Commercially grown fruit is often picked early and stored, then treated with ethylene gas when it needs to be ripened for sale.
“There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanks for reading, and if your fruit is ready, please register your tree via our website and send us an email at thehiddenorchard@gmail.com