For the record, I do not want you to think that I have always eaten the way I do now. It has been a process. There have been important milestones and realizations along the way such as, for example, the day I realized that there was absolutely no high-fructose corn syrup in my refrigerator. Or the time I decided that we were going to begin diluting the boxes of marginally nutritious “breakfast cereals” with dried fruit, nuts, seeds (e.g., sesame, pumpkin, sunflower), and rolled (steamed) oats until they contained essentially none of the original agents. 

And then there was the time I realized that we had inadvertently made an important change in the way we unpacked the groceries. This change, though virtually invisible, was to have a significant effect on the way we ate. 

In the early days, we tossed virtually all the produce into the fridge with nary a thought. Nowadays, as we open the refrigerator door and began to slide food onto the shelves and into the drawers, we concurrently lift away the fruit and spread it all over the kitchen counters. Beautiful assortments of plums, kiwis, melons, grapes, mangos, peaches, and, maybe, cherries in summer. Tangerines, pomegranates, persimmons, bananas, and grapefruits and more at other times of year. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and bananas stay out all year round.

Except for apples and berries, I rarely put fruit in the refrigerator anymore. Instead, I spread it out, sometimes on a dish towel, giving each piece space to breath, and keeping it away from the other fruit so it doesn’t ripen too fast.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it works. Because you can always see what’s ripe, what’s good, and what’s left. Much less fruit is wasted. This system greatly increases the likelihood of eating fruit for breakfast, snack, or dessert. We’re guaranteeing that little or nothing gets forgotten in the back corner of a refrigerator drawer. In summertime, we regularly pick the ripest, readiest, sweetest-looking peach on our way through the kitchen. And, in contrast to what you might think, the fruit on the counter turns out to be so appealing that we engage in much less of what I would call “cruising the cabinets.”

In a way, putting the produce front and center is similar to a grocery store layout. No supermarket puts the produce in a back corner. Not a chance. Each and every shopper is actually required to walk straight through the produce section on their way to the rest of the store, and it’s pretty much the same everywhere. 

I don’t think it will surprise you to read that the berries always get eaten especially quickly, and if I soak them briefly in water with a teaspoon of vinegar, they will last a few days more no matter where they are stored. 

There are some exceptions. We move fruit into the refrigerator if we’re going out of town for a few days. Cantaloupes and honeydews go into the refrigerator, but only after they turn ripe and fragrant, and my husband usually cuts them up within the next 24 hours. Ripe peaches (sliced in half) and peeled bananas go into the freezer to use later in a smoothie. On rare occasions, I might collect a few overripe pears and turn them into pear sauce along with an apple or two.

In general, you can count on finding something sweet and delicious on our kitchen counter. I recommend giving it a try at your house, too.