How does lime juice preserve an apple?

Preserve carved fruit?

• hello there, i am doing a fruit basket that consist of carved pineapple,apple,plum,mango,melon,grapes and strawberry...it's for my cousin wedding..so was wondering how to make them look fresh..i heard of lime juice but would this keep the fruit fresh for a day atleast also is it a good idea if i carved the fruit and leave it in the fridge overnight and put it in the bouquet the next day..i can get rid of the apple though but am worried about the plum and i really want to add the plum,will lime juice help. can someone also tell me how many days before can i dipped the strawberry in the chocolate and will cadbury chocolate works for the dipping, p.s:it's a lunch party so i don't want wasting time with fruit basket in the morning...please let me know asap..wedding is this week..

• Answer:

  only the apple will be an issue so I wouldn't use that one fruit. You can also cut the fruit a day in advance but don't mix it together, keep it in separate containers until you put it all together. Strawberries are hard to do ahead of time and will also fade when mixed with other fruits. Pineapple and honeydew melon both contain a digestive enzyme and can discolor other fruits. Thats why you can cut them a day ahead but shouldn't mix them. I am also somewhatconcerned about plums... the skins are tough, they have pits and might leak a lot of juice after cut and discolor the other fruit. I have catered a lot and often do fruit kabobs, fruit platters and filled watermelon. The fruits that I have worked with that are pretty nice are peaches, honey dew, cantalope, red, black and green grapes, mango, pineapple, blue berries(scattered over the fruit bowl)kiwi(tasty and add some different colors. None turn dark or oxidize so lemon/lime juice is unnecessary. In any case, pineapple would take care of that anyway. Strawberries for dipping should have the stem attached and often need to be ordered in advance from stores...check that out. Wash them well ahead of time and allow to dry well and dip only when the berries are at room temp or they will sweat and you will have a HUGE problem. After the chocolate is hard you can refrigerate them. Over night they should be okay..I would use a good quality dipping chocolate. Don't know if Cadbury chocolate would work. Buy some and try it...