storing fruits the right way will keep them tastier and fresher for longer as you may know fruits are an important part of a well balanced diet eating a diet rich in fruits can help lower your risk of many health conditions including high blood pressure heart disease stroke and certain kinds of cancers but if they re not handled properly the same fruits can also become a source of food borne pathogens for example they can become contaminated with listeria salmonella or other bacteria fruits lose taste texture and appearance if not stored properly it s so important to learn how to clean and store fruits the right way if you want some of your fruits to ripen faster place the fruit in a paper bag with an apple or banana apples and bananas release a gas that helps other fruits ripen remember these are guidelines you ll need to use your best judgement when deciding if fruit is safe to eat follow these guidelines to better store your fruits for a healthier more balanced diet storing fruit in a root cellar fruit such as apples can be stored in a cool dry dark place like a root cellar or even a dark cupboard for about six months depending on the temperature and humidity of your cellar freeze your fruit if you can t eat it right away most fruit can be frozen and is a delicious way to enjoy ripe fruit all year long frozen fruit is great for making smoothies adding to hot cereal using in muffins and quick breads mixing with yogurt or making a fruit sauce for pancakes and waffles most fruit will be fine in the freezer for up to one year to freeze fruit there are a number of different ways to freeze fruit you can freeze them whole in small pieces or pack them in a jar with syrup this method works well for freezing berries 1 gently wash the berries with water and drain 2 spread berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet place in the freezer this helps to keep the berries from sticking together 3 when the berries are hard place berries into labelled freezer bags or containers storing canned fruit canned fruit can be kept for 1 2 years label the can with the date to help you keep track of how long it has been in your cupboard some canned fruit will have a use by date this is how long the food will be at its best quality as decided by the manufacturer check out this chart to keep track of your fruits apples 3 4 weeks apricots ripe 4 5 days avocado ripe 3 5 days blueberries 1 2 weeks cherries 4 7 days cranberries 3 4 weeks gooseberries 2 3 days grapefruit 2 3 weeks grapes 5 7 days guava ripe 3 4 days kiwi ripe 5 7 days mango ripe 5 7 days melons ripe 7 10 days nectarine ripe 3 5 days oranges 2 3 weeks peaches ripe 3 5 days pear ripe 5 7 days pineapple 3 5 days plums ripe 3 5 days pomegranate 1 2 months prickly pear ripe 1 3 days raspberries 2 3 days strawberries 3 5 days watermelon 2 weeks