When you pick beautifully looking fruit it may look like its ripe, delicious and ready to eat. Though more often than not, they may actually be overripe or still green. So, if you've experienced this problem before, follow this useful advice:
1. Pomegranate
When selecting a pomegranate make sure the rind is red to dark red, without dark patches. If the pomegranate is light it should feel heavier than an unripe one. A pomegranate shouldn't be soft to the touch. The calyx of the pomegranate should not be green either.
2. Pineapple
If the pineapple appears to be too fragrant it's most likely, overripe. It is also overripe if you press on the pineapple and it leaves a dent. When picking a pineapple pay attention to the uniformity of color and dark patches. The leaves of a perfectly ripe pineapple should be green and slightly wilted at the ends. If the leaves appear to be too green, the pineapple was picked early.
3. Mango
Mango comes in a variety of colors, from green, to yellow or red. With some of these varieties, however, it is hard to tell a ripe fruit from an unripe one. When the mango is ready to eat there should be dark patches on the skin. A hard mango indicates that it is unripe and if it is overripe, the skin can be damaged with your finger.
4. Pomelo
Yellow, green or orange, pomelos should be hard to touch as this indicates a lot of juice, while the shape of this citrus can be anything from round to pear-like.
5. Papaya
Yellow or orange skin indicates a ripe papaya. Green skin indicates that the fruit is still unripe. The ripest fruits have uniformly colored skin. But pay attention to its softness too. If the skin seems fine but the papaya still feels hard, it's not ripe yet. Also, while small dark patches won't affect the taste of the papaya, big patches indicate that it is overripe.
6. Passion fruit
When passion fruit is ripe its skin should be wrinkled. Smooth skin is a sign of the passion fruit being too hard. Passion fruit should either be purple or yellow. If it appears green, then the passion fruit has been picked before it was actually ready. The fruit should feel quite heavy too. An 8cm perfectly ripe one should weigh about 50g.
6. Avocado
Depending on the variety, a ripe avocado's skin can be brown or bright green. If it is ripe, the pit will rattle inside if you shake it. If upon pressing the avocado a dent appears then it is ripe. Though if the dent does not go away then it's already overripe.
