Fruits

Fresh fruits make ideal desserts and between-meal snacks. Because they are delicious as well as nutritional, they should be served frequently in salads and for appetisers as well. To retain the nutritive value of fruit, the same rules apply as those suggested for preparing salads and cooking vegetables. To protect their vitamin content, keep fresh fruits in the refrigerator or in a dark, cool place. They are apt to lose their vitamin content when left at room temperature. Exceptions to this rule are those fruits with heavy skin such as bananas and citrus varieties. Like vegetables, fruit should never be soaked, but washed quickly in cold water. Trim as little as possible and never peel or cut until shortly before serving to protect the Vitamin C content.

Choose fresh fruits rather than canned or frozen varieties. Because ripe, fresh fruits contain natural sugar, you don’t really need any additional sweetener. If you must add sweetener, however, use a bit of pure honey rather than “empty” table sugar.