Tampa Bay-FL - Toronto-ON  | e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  | Skype: item.ca 

Storing and Handling 

Temperature/humidity recommendation for short-term storage of 7 days or less: 
Unripe: 45-50 degrees F/7-10 degrees C 
85-95% relative humidity 
Ripe: 32-36 degrees F/0-2 degrees C 
90-98% relative humidity 
Retail display tips: 
Water sprinkle: no 
Top ice: no 
Ethylene production/sensitivities Produces ethylene: 
Unripe: Yes-low 
Ripe: Yes; keep ripe avocados away from fruits and vegetables that are sensitive to ethylene    and may be damaged by it. Sensitive to ethylene exposure: 
Unripe: Yes; unripe fruit is extremely sensitive to ethylene. Exposure may increase symptoms of    chill damage. 
Ripe: Yes; ethylene promotes continuation of the ripening (softening) process. 
Handling Tips: Handle ripe avocados with care to avoid bruising. Do not dump avocados into displays. Check ripeness daily, displaying or using ripest fruit first.

Storing & Handling 

Temperature/humidity recommendation for short-term storage of 7 days or less: 
Mature green & ripe: 60-65 degrees F/16-18 degrees C 85-95% relative humidity 
Retail display tips: 
Water sprinkle: no Top ice: no 
Ethylene production/sensitivities: 
Produces ethylene: Yes; ethylene production rate increases with ripening. 
Sensitive to ethylene exposure: 
Mature green: Yes; ethylene is required to initiate ripening. Ripe: No 
Storing tips: 
To ripen bananas in shipping containers, keep containers covered. To slow ripening, remove container lid and plastic cover. Treating mature green bananas with ethylene will help ensure uniform ripening.  
Handling tips:  
Bananas bruise easily; handle with care. 

Storing & Handling 

Temperature/humidity recommendation for short-term storage of 7 days or less: 
60-65 degrees F/16-18 degrees C 85-95% relative humidity 
Retail display tips: 
Water sprinkle: no Top ice: no 
Ethylene production/sensitivities: 
Produces ethylene: Yes-medium Sensitive to ethylene exposure: Yes 
Handling tips:  
Handle mangoes with care to avoid bruising or damaging the fruit; do not drop shipping containers on the floor. 

Storing & Handling 

Temperature/humidity recommendation for short-term storage of 7 days or less: 
60-65 degrees F/16-18 degrees C 85-95% relative humidity 
Retail display tips: 
Water sprinkle: no Top ice: no 
Ethylene production/sensitivities: 
Produces ethylene: Yes-medium 
Sensitive to ethylene exposure: Yes; ethylene promotes softening. 
Handling tips:  
A papaya is ripe and ready to eat when it yields to a gentle palm pressure and the peel is approximately 3/4 yellow to yellow-orange in color. Handle papayas with care to avoid damage. 

Storing & Handling 

Temperature/humidity recommendation for short-term storage of 7 days or less: 
45-50 degrees F/7-10 degrees C 85-95% relative humidity 
Retail display tips: 
Water sprinkle: no Top ice: no 
Ethylene production/sensitivities: 
Produces ethylene: Yes-very low Sensitive to ethylene exposure: No 
Handling tips:  
Although pineapples have a tough-looking exterior, they can bruise easily. Handle fruit with care. 

Introduction  
A small tree, 5 - 12 m tall, with clusters of small pink flowers, which are borne on bare branches or at leaf bases. The fruits are acutely 5-angled and distinctly star-shaped when cut across, yellow to reddish golden in colour when ripe, and about 10-15 cm in length. The total cultivated area in Peninsular Malaysia is estimated to be only about 500 ha but it gives one of the highest returns per hectare.  
Varieties  
Seventeen clones have been registered but only clone B10 is cultivated commercially. The fruits are sweet and juicy with a pleasant tangy flavour.  
Propagation  
Readily propagated by bud grafting. Budded plants begin to flower 
and fruit as early as 14 months after field planting 
Cultivation  
Carambola grows well in a wide range of soils. It requires adequate moisture throughout the year but does not tolerate waterlogging. Regular fertilizer application is necessary for fruit production. The trees are regularly pruned and trained. Branches and watershoots are bent and held parallel to the ground so as to maintain a canopy that is "flattened" to enable fruit bagging.  
Pests and Diseases  
Fruits are attacked by several insects including two species of fruit flies, Bactrocera carambolae and B. papayae, and two species of lepidopteran borers -- Homona sp. and Cryptophlebia sp. The flowers are commonly infested by the flower moth Diacrotricha fasciola Zeller. (Pterophoridae). Mites (Tetranychus sp.) are occassionally a problem in prolonged hot dry weather. Carambola is relatively free of any serious diseases. Occassionally however, during prolonged wet weather in conjunction with dense canopy conditions, the young stems and shoots succumb to thread blight while Cercospora leaf spot causes defiliation as well as spotting on young fruits.  
  
Harvesting, Handling and Storage   
Carambola is non-seasonal and yields 3-5 crops per year. The fruits are harvested between 40-50 days after fruit set, when they are just beginning to turn from dark green to a light yellow-green. 
• The fruits are hand picked together with the surrounding paper bags, and and transported to the packing shed in baskets.  
• Fruits are then unwrapped, sorted and graded by workers using rubber gloves to minimize damage to the fruits.  
• Fruits are stored at 7oC for up to six weeks during transit by sea. Fruits are also airfreighted to Hong Kong.  

Coconut Equivalents: 1 whole = 3-4 cups grated; 1 tablespoon grated dry = 1 ½ tablespoons fresh grated; 6 cups grated = 1 pound. Notes: The most common form of coconut in markets is the dry coconut, with a hard brown shell surrounding firm coconut meat with liquid in the center.  Green coconuts = water coconuts are young coconuts with very soft meat inside. 
They're more often found in the tropics. Select coconuts that are free of cracks or mold, that are heavy for their size, and that have lots of water in them when you shake them.  To crack one, hit it along its equator with a blunt instrument, pouring off the water when the first crack appears. 
Substitutes: Brazil nuts OR macadamia nuts. 

Dates (fresh) Notes: Fresh dates are sometimes available at farmer's markets in the late summer.
They're crunchy, and not as sweet as dried dates. 
Substitutes: dried dates .

Fig Notes: Varieties include Calimyrna = Smyrna and Kadota, both with green skin and pinkish-white flesh, and the most popular variety, and the Mission fig = black Mission fig, with dark purple skin and pink flesh. Dried figs are not good substitutes for fresh.
Substitutes: pears (especially as a dessert served with cheese or prosciutto).

Green papaya = cooking papaya Notes: Southeast Asian cooks like to shred these into salads.   
Substitutes: chayote squash.

Kadota Fig Notes: This has green skin and pinkish-white flesh.

Persimmon Notes: There are two varieties: the dark orange, acorn-shaped Hachiya and the light orange, tomato-shaped Fuyu.  Many people have sworn off persimmons for life after biting into an underripe, astringent Hachiya. But if you wait  until it's ripened to a soft, shriveled mess, you can spoon out its exquisitely sweet and delicate pulp. Fuyus aren't as flavorful, but they're more idiot-proof in that you can eat them while they're still firm and not get your mouth in a pucker. 
Substitutes: plums OR pumpkin (Mashed pumpkin is a good substitute for persimmons in many baked good recipes.)  

Pomegranate = Chinese apple  Notes:  Cut through the pomegranate's leathery skin, and you'll find hundreds of pretty kernels, each with a tiny seed surrounded by ruby red pulp. You can eat the kernels, seeds and all, and they're great as garnishes or sprinkled in salads. You can also press the kernels for juice and strain out the seeds. Wear an apron when working with pomegranates; the juice can stain your clothes. They arrive in markets in the late summer and early fall. 
Substitutes: grenadine (for the juice) .

Acerola cherries are native to Central America, but they grow well in tropical climates. They are known as the "Cherry of the Antilles" and have a phenomenal amount of Vitamin C. 100 grams of Acerola pulp contains almost 3000% your daily requirement of Vitamin C!!  

Cupuaçu (pronounced koo-poo-ahh-sue), has a white, fleshy pulp inside it's hard brown cover. It's exotic taste is widespread in the Amazon region and is often utilized in Ice Creams and liquor drinks!!

Cashew is not just a nut!!! The cashew fruit is one of the most refreshing and exotic flavors you will ever experience. Very popular in Brazil, but almost unheard of in the rest of the world.