How to eat more fruit when summer is over

The summer bounty of ultra-fresh and locally-grown fruit is gone along with your hot weather craving for cool, crisp, refreshing, juicy, naturally sweet produce, but that doesn’t mean you get a free pass on keeping your fruit intake up during the fall and winter. The cold weather months bring their own crop of fruit and we’ve got a few sneaky and healthy ways to eat more fruit once the summer heat is long gone.
The summer bounty of ultra-fresh and locally-grown fruit is gone along with your hot weather craving for cool, crisp, refreshing, juicy, naturally sweet produce, but that doesn’t mean you get a free pass on keeping your fruit intake up during the fall and winter. The cold weather months bring their own crop of fruit and we’ve got a few sneaky and healthy ways to eat more fruit once the summer heat is long gone.

Eat seasonally

Berries and stone fruits, such as peaches, nectarines, and plums, may be past their prime, but the fall and winter seasons deliver a fresh pick of apples, pears, pomegranates, persimmons, cranberries, blood oranges, grapefruit,  tangerines, and other citrus. Winter squash is also a fruit; though it is considered a vegetable, botanically, the many varieties are actually fruit.

Go with frozen

Frozen fruit is a second-best choice when it comes to nutrition and flavor. Add frozen blueberries to smoothies, if you’re still powering your morning with a healthy refreshing drink. Satisfy your cravings for warm and wonderful meals by stirring frozen (thawed) berries into oatmeal, pancake and waffle batters, quickbread and muffin batters, and use any frozen fruit to make fruit crumbles, fruit sauces, or pies.

Snack on dried fruit

Dried fruit is a concentrated source of nutrients and sweetness. Add dried fruit to your morning cereal, muffin and quickbread recipes, yogurt, granola, and trailmix. Keep your portions modest since dried fruit is also more concentrated in calories.

Juice your fruit

You can certainly buy ready-to-drink fruit juices but you’ll save money and make a healthier beverage by juicing your own. You may not feel like biting into a fresh piece of fruit but you can swap out a glass of water or less nutritious drink for a glass of just-made juice.

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