Soft Fruits for Elderly
“Soft Fruits for Elderly” was written by Amanda Crowe, MS, RDN, CD & edited/reviewed by Aly Bouzek, MS, RDN.
Why Soft Fruits for Elderly?
What do you consider as a soft fruit? The way that this question is answered can depend on your chewing ability. No teeth, dentures, ill-fitting dentures, missing teeth, or difficulty chewing can all be reasons for needing to eat soft fruits.
What are Soft Fruits?
Technically, most soft fruits are those that grow on bushes and have a thin skin. Other soft fruits can grow on vines, canes, or grow/creep along the ground.
Soft fruits spoil quickly and, if fresh, need to be eaten within a few days. If you cannot eat the fresh soft fruits fast enough before spoilage, then try drying them, preserving them, or freezing them.
Soft fruits include:
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Blackberries
- Gooseberries
- Currants (black, white, red)
- Grapes
Are There Other Soft Fruits?
Some people classify “soft fruits” as those that can be easily chewed or mashed with a fork and have soft skins. Soft fruits can be those that are pureed, but they don’t necessarily have to be pureed to be considered soft.
Sometimes a fruit is considered soft or softer after it has been cooked or peeled. Additional soft fruits that are great options for those with limited chewing ability include:
- Bananas
- Pears (ripe)
- Peaches (ripe)
- Avocados
- Canned fruits (or individual fruit cups available at the store)
Can You Make a Fruit a Soft Fruit?
Some fruits can be made soft during the cooking process or when “hydrating” them back from their dried state. Others are soft when bottled or canned in liquid or water. Let’s learn more below.
Cooking Fruit
When thinking of a cooked fruit, what comes to mind?
Maybe baked cinnamon apples, roasted pears, plums, or peaches?
If you’re wanting to bake a fruit dish to help make it softer, make sure to peel the fruit first.
Additionally, try not to overcook the fruit dish because this can turn the fruit’s texture into a leathery one – and that’s not easy to chew or soft.
Rehydrating Dried Fruit
Some dried fruits can be made into softer fruits that might be easier for you to chew. If you’d like to give this a try, then pick out some dried fruit. Next, you’ll want to add the fruit to a bowl and fill the bowl with boiling water.
Let the fruit sit in the water for about 10-15 minutes. Remove the fruit from the water, and enjoy your soft fruit after it has cooled down.
Some ideas for dried fruits that you can rehydrate include raisins and cranberries. Please note, if you have trouble chewing or swallowing, then this kind of fruit might not be right for you. Reach out to your doctor or a registered dietitian if you have questions.
Bottled and Canned Fruits
How a food is processed can change how soft it is when served. The cooking process during canning makes fruit softer. For example, peaches and pears are easier (and softer) to eat after they have been canned.
Apples themselves are considered a hard fruit. However, apples can be cooked then run through a food processor or food mill to create applesauce which can then be bottled or canned. Apples in the form of applesauce are easy to eat and can be considered a soft fruit.
Some fruits, like chunked pineapple, can still be tough to eat even after cooking. However, pineapple is easier to eat when it’s crushed. So if you’re looking to make pineapple one of your soft fruits, opt for the canned crushed pineapple!
As with all canned fruits, try to watch the amount of added sugar. Canned fruits can have no added sugar, added sugar, or artificial sugar.
Additionally, fruit can be canned in:
- water
- 100% juice
- lite syrup
- heavy syrup
Fruit is naturally sweet, so look for options with little or no added sugar if that is helpful for your health journey.
How to Store Soft Fruits
Properly storing foods can make them last longer and can help decrease the amount of waste. Soft fruits are susceptible to spoiling quickly, so it is best to store them in a single layer on the counter or in the refrigerator.
How to Care for Bananas
Bananas can be placed on the counter where they will ripen fairly quickly. They can also be placed in the fridge for storage. They will ripen slower at the cooler temperature.
When storing bananas in the fridge, it is good to know that the banana peel will turn brown quickly. This does not mean that the banana is already over-ripe. Instead, the banana fruit itself is still safe for eating and will taste like a yellow-peeled banana.
Bananas can also be frozen, especially if you want to save them for smoothies or for baked goods. If freezing bananas, we recommend peeling the banana and chopping it up (at least into a few pieces) before sticking it in a bag and placing it in the freezer.
Bananas can be frozen at any stage in the ripening process. The more ripe (more yellow/brown) the banana, the sweeter the taste.
And you don’t have to shy away from green bananas. In fact, there are health benefits to eating green bananas including gastrointestinal, metabolic, and weight control. (1)
How to Care for Berries
Berries are fragile! Often, if one berry goes bad it can spoil the whole container of berries. If eating berries soon after picking them or buying them from the store they can be kept on the counter, otherwise they should go in the fridge as soon as you get home from the store.
Buying frozen berries is the easiest way to avoid spoilage. Frozen berries are just as nutritious as fresh berries because they are picked at their peak ripeness. Buying frozen berries in bulk is another way to make them more affordable year round.
Recipes for Soft Fruits
No matter the weather, comfort foods are always on our minds. Fresh fruit is not always readily available, especially during certain seasons. If fruit is on the menu, then try bananas, frozen berries, or canned fruit which are available year-round.
Cooking with Soft Fruits
Cooking with soft fruits can take additional time, so plan accordingly. If the fruit is frozen, plan enough time to allow the fruit to thaw. When using fruit as a topping, then the fruit may need to be cooked separately. If serving a cold dish with cooked fruit, allow time for the fruit to cool.
Below are a few of our favorite breakfast recipes from our sister site, High Calorie Recipes. In addition to breakfast, they can be eaten as a snack or as a meal later in the day.
Soft Fruit Smoothies
*Note, this section includes an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Smoothies are an easy way to add fruit to your diet. Smoothies take any fruit (hard or soft) and turn it into a soft fruit. If soft fruit needs to be part of your diet, then we recommend getting a high quality blender*.
Making your own smoothies allows you to control the kind of fruit and the flavor of your smoothie.
A benefit to smoothies (instead of juicing the fruit) is that you keep the fiber in your drink. Fiber is found within the whole fruit – not the fruit juice. There are many health benefits to getting enough fiber in your diet including easier digestion, gut health, and lowered cholesterol.
Here are a few of our favorite smoothie recipes from High Calorie Recipes:
Also, if you’re wanting to add more fiber to your smoothie (and get the added benefits of gut/digestion health), then try The Best Smoothie for Constipation Relief.
Conclusion + Soft Foods Resources
Just because soft fruits are what work best in your diet does not mean that you need to give up variety or flavor. Cooking, baking, pureeing, and making smoothies can all be ways to prepare fruits so that they are soft enough to include in your diet.
Check out our other articles listed below for more information about soft foods:
- Soft Foods After Oral Surgery
- 5 Easy Ideas for Soft Foods Diet [with FREE Meal Plan]
- 13 Great Tasting Soft Foods for the Elderly
- 75 Soft Foods to Eat When Chewing Hurts
- High Calorie Soft Foods to Gain Weight
- 15 Foods You Can Eat Without Chewing
- Soft Foods Archive
What is your favorite soft fruit? What is your favorite way to prepare soft fruits?
These soft fruits are great options for the elderly! They also boast other benefits, such as the year-round stability of bananas and the way that certain berries can be integrated into desserts.