A long time ago when I was in high school our FFA chapter sold fruit in the fall as a fundraiser. One of the options for a customer to purchase was fruit gift basket. These are great gifts for recipients and part of a wonderful Christmas gift tradition.
My daughter recently sold fruit through the Newton FFA Chapter so we will be handling this delivery process very soon. So what do you do when you get a fruit basket as a gift?
Usually, the fruit is placed in an attractive basket, wrapped with cellophane covering, and brought to your house or shipped to you if ordered from another source. It is important that the fruit contained inside is kept in cool conditions to maintain its quality for as long as possible. Thus, it is wise to disassemble the fruit basket as soon as you receive it and place the fruit in refrigerated storage. If all the products in the basket are tree fruits (such as apples, pears, oranges or grapefruit), you can place the entire basket in a cool place- around 40 degrees F for best results.
If the basket contains any bananas or other tropical fruits (with the exception of citrus), remove those fruits and store them separately. About 3-4 weeks is about as long as you can expect to store these fruits without some shriveling and loss of crispness.
