An Apple a Day…
Happy Monday friends! My kiddos start school in one week. Needless to say I have mixed emotions. Having some quiet in my day will be wonderful, but I love the no schedule/laid back /family time of summer.
This week is all about final back-to-school prep and my mind is thinking about school lunches. So I figured trying a pin I saw about keeping an apple from going brown would be a great idea. All my kiddos LOVE green apples!
So here’s the premise. You slice up an apple…
working your way around the core…
and then hold it together with a rubber band to help keep out the oxygen and keep it from turning brown.
So the first apple I tried this with I cut up and wrapped with the rubber band and stuck it back in my fridge for 24 hours before checking it.
Here’s what it looked like…
Not nearly as bad as it would be if it hadn’t been wrapped up, but still a little brown.
The 2nd apple I tried I followed the same method, but only left for 4 hours (I figured the time it would be from cutting it up in the am till the time they’d eat lunch at school).
Much better results! I don’t think I’d hear any complaints from my kiddos on this one.
So there you go… a great healthy lunch item for your kiddos. This would be great to take to sporting events and other after school activities too.
Ok… I’m off to live in denial that school is coming too quick! Are your kiddos starting school soon? Have they already started?
Try rubbing the cut surface with lemmon.
🙂
I have wondered about this before but I guess I didn’t wonder enough to try it out. I will do this now that I know the results. 🙂
My son does not like Fruit Fresh at all and he can tell when I use it so I gave up. Now there is a new way for him to still enjoy his apples. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve read (but not tried) that dipping cut apples into a similar “bath” of lemon juice and water will also stop the oxidation. Eating around the seeds is still problematic but my son is gradually getting more comfortable with munching apples whole.
Two words: Fruit Fresh
I cut my 6 yr old son’s apples into two halves, use a melon baller to scoop our the seeds, give them a quick dunk in a “bath” (about a cup of water, a half teaspoon of Fruit Fresh, and a pinch of sea salt) and then toss them in a Ziplock to go into his sack lunch. They stay crisp and brown-free.
But I do like the rubber band trick. I may give that a shot to see how he likes his apple that way. Mostly, I’m just thrilled that he loves apples and will even eat the peel!
Great tip! I have also cut up an apple and wrapped it back up ‘whole’ in saran wrap…which seems to work! Thanks for sharing this tip – I have lots of rubber bands! 😀
What a brilliant idea! Thanks for sharing your find 🙂