Do You Eat Bruised Fruit?

July 21, 2009

22 Comments

I find that picture of bruised fruit quite unappealing. The irony is that this is a recent cultural viewpoint and may be very harmful. Before this era of perfect looking fruits in the supermarkets instead of the best tasting fruits, people ate fruit with blemishes. The bruised parts taste sweeter. Fruits and vegetables react to trauma by producing salicylates. They were therefore a much larger natural part of our diet back then. Did people start dropping dead without them? Yes. Recent studies have shown that a quarter sized aspirin each day can decrease risk of heart attacks and strokes. An aspirin given to somebody immediately after either one of those events has less of a chance of damage and greater odds of recovery. There are also studies showing possible links to reduction of cancer. Having salicylates as a natural part of the diet might be part of the reason heart attacks were relatively rare prior to the 20th century. To the person who complained about maggots, that's another thing to keep in mind. Decades ago, a study was done on diet in an African tribe whose diet, based on listing ingredients of what they ate, did not seem sufficient for good health. But they lacked the anticipated health problems. It turned out that additions such as maggots are high in protein, and whatever flies or insects made it into the food by accident might have been quite beneficial. All that being said, I still can't help but view badly bruised fruit as disgusting and rotten even though I should know better. If you can get used to moderately bruised fruit (hold the maggots please) then you might find that it tastes better than what you've been eating.

muse2323 3 years 42 weeks

I can deal with mild bruising. Major bruising sends it straight to the baking/juicing/preserves pile.

Soniabonya 3 years 42 weeks

Cut or eat around the part. Usually if a fruit is bruised, I cut it open to see what might be lurking inside. . . and that fruit in the above picture is well on its way to rotting.

FireFly44 3 years 42 weeks

My banana was bruised this morning! I just ate around that part. In general I cut out the bruises on apples or bananas, but if it's too much I throw it out.

lemuse20 3 years 42 weeks

Bruised sometimes tastes better, to be honest! I think sometimes it sweetens the fruit or speeds up the ripening process. But like the majority here, I'd say the featured pic is a bit more than bruised - more like rotten... I'd eat if I was extremely hungry though.

cherryblossom 3 years 42 weeks

it's not good to be wasteful, and you can just cut bruises out.

victork 3 years 42 weeks

Being that I grew up in a house where we grew a lot of our own produce, funnily enough, its caused me to be wary of eating bruised fruits. Reason for this being that once the fruit was bruised in some area, it opened it up to insect infestation. The amount of mandarins I had when I was a kid with maggots in them has made me eternally wary. That and very cheap ethnics parents who refused to throw out even the most rotten food. Now that I live in the middle of the city, I tend to buy fresh produce the day I'll be eating it when walking home. Cheap and fresh, and means I can trust whatever I eat.

Pampire 3 years 43 weeks

Eww no way! I'm a little picky about what I eat. I have to observe it and smell it first! Maybe if its a tiny spot I will cut it out but if it smells rotten or if its a big bruise, no freakin way am I touching it! Btw that picture of the fruit is absolutely rotten, not bruised!

chiefdishwasher 3 years 43 weeks

That fruit was hit by a bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

miamixo 3 years 43 weeks

Bruised like in the pic, no but a few small bruises I'll just cut out of the fruit.

Wild Magelet 3 years 43 weeks

There's "bruised" and there's "buried in a corner of the produce shelf for five months". That fruit is rotten. :) In general, it would depend on HOW bruised and what type of fruit. I agree that bruised apples are gross.

3 years 43 weeks

I just cut around. I hate wasting!!

3 years 43 weeks

There are different levels of bruised. There's the little bruise that you can cut away. Then there's the more significant bruise that still lets you use the fruit in a pie or other baking. And then there's the beat the heck bruise that means someone doesn't appreciate your fruit.

Spectra 3 years 43 weeks

I will NOT eat bruised apples. The texture changes entirely! I will eat bruised berries and peaches, but that's about it. If fruit is really beat up, I try to find another way to use it...in a crisp or pie or something like that.

yvettecq 3 years 43 weeks

that fruit in the photo is beyong bruised. if i can do something else with it, like bread or pie then yes, i'll use it that way other nope. i know that's wasteful...sorry.

Sherellj 3 years 43 weeks

Might as well sun dry it

PinkNC 3 years 43 weeks

Nope.

AlexisSF 3 years 43 weeks

i wouldn't throw it out just because it was bruised, but i prefer to eat fruit that isn't beat up.

MLH1 3 years 43 weeks

I generally eat around it, the fruit in the picture above is beyond bruised though.

Angelica 3 years 43 weeks

No way! It's the worst. Unless it can be turned into banana bread or pie it's back into the ground.

michlny 3 years 43 weeks

The fruit in the pic. is a bit beyond bruised......

RoaringSilence 3 years 43 weeks

I grew up with a large fruit and vegetable garden, and the produce wasn't perfect most of the time. I just cut away whatever is bruised or bad, and eat the rest. It's that easy.

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