Ways to Use Overripe Fruit

Having fruit and other produce go to waste is so tragic. But when it ripens at such a fast rate, it can be hard to use it all up before it goes bad!

I feel like I’ve been particularly good at using up overripe fruit lately, and I’m quite proud of that. I know all too well, though, what it’s like to  to completely forget about fresh produce and having to throw away soooo much food as a result.

To help inspire you to use up your produce before it’s past the point of no return, I’m sharing some popular fruits that tend to go bad in people’s houses…but can actually be saved! There are three main ways I like to save overripe fruit:

• Freezing
• Cooking
• Blending

Here are some more specifics of how certain fruits can be utilized, despite being overly ripe:

Bananas

Blend, freeze for later, or bake! I mainly use overripe bananas straight-up in smoothies or frozen for later smoothie use. Check out my recent Protein Spinach Smoothie recipe for an idea (as well as how I go about freezing bananas for easy use later). The second most common way I use overripe bananas is in banana bread. Overripe bananas are actually the best way to make banana bread, since they’re sweeter and have a stronger banana taste. Here’s my favorite banana bread recipe, if you’re in the mood to do some baking!

Berries

When I buy berries, I try to keep a good eye on them because I hate when they get even close to being overripe. Once they get a bit too soft, I throw them in a bag in the freezer for future smoothie-making. I’m quite partial to blueberry muffins as well though. While browsing the wonderful world wide web, I came across a recipe that sounds and looks quite appealing.

Apples

Mealy apples are the worst, but cooking with them completely fixes that issue! When you cook overripe apples, you can’t even tell the difference . Whether you throw them in pancakes, make apple sauce, or create a delicious dessert, apples are in season, so it’s the perfect time to stock up. I did some baking today and here’s a look at the crispy goodness that ensued.

For the recipe, visit my Apple Crisp post.

Grapes

I’m really bad at buying fruit sometimes, just ask my sister. It’s like I actually try to buy overripe fruit or something. I did this a few weeks ago with some not-so-stellar grapes. I was pretty bummed and only ate about 1/4 of the bag and threw the rest out. Next time, though, I plan to do some experimenting with homemade jelly or jam. Although overripe grapes tend to get a bad taste pretty fast, if you catch them when right before, you could definitely cook with them!

And that sums up my favorite way to use up overripe bananas, berries, apples, and grapes. Even if you don’t know what to do with most of your overripe fruit, please spare the bananas! Throw them in the freezer for later use. It’s so easy! Or if you don’t want to use them, mail them to me because I’m always running out of them.

Glad that’s settled.

Do you have any favorite ways to use overripe fruit?