brown apples

[threeangels]

This may sound like an odd question but I thought I would ask anyway. My son is having an end of the year breakfast in his school and he offered to bring in apples and bananas. They said they would like us to cut up the apples. I dont know if it was Martha Stewert or someone else but I heard there was something you could put over the apples to keep them from turning brown. Does anyone happen to know anything about this. Thanks

[Enid]

lemon juice helps prevent apples turning brown.

[threeangels]

Enid, will the lemon juice give them any kind of taste? Thanks for your help.

[Dixie]

Yes it's lemon juice that stops them going brown, put over the banana too if you're chopping that up in advance. I've always done this with my fruit salads & it doesn't seem to impair the taste/flavour too much. (but it depends on how mad you go with the lemon juice)

[SofiaAmes]

I think it's the contact with oxygen that makes them go brown. Perhaps tightly wrapping the plaste of slices in clingfilm might work. It works pretty well with my son's half eaten apples. Maybe you could slice up the apples and then put them back into the apple shape and wrap that in clingfilm. I would experiment in advance...martha i'm not.

[mollipops]

Yes it's the air that makes them go brown, so airtight containers or cling wrap should help...lemon juice does help, you only need a sprinkle so it doesn't affect the taste much. You can also put orange or mandarin slices in the fruit salad which has a similar effect to the lemon juice. I found that slicing the banana up with the skin still on, leaving a "cut" along one side so the kids can peel it themselves, works well to keep them fresh-looking.