No need to squeeze the pears anymore

No more squeezing or sniffing pears to determine if they're ripe. That's because a new smart package does all that work for you. News on 6 reporter Rick Wells has found it in Tulsa and shows

Monday, April 25th 2005, 10:01 am

By: News On 6

No more squeezing or sniffing pears to determine if they're ripe. That's because a new smart package does all that work for you. News on 6 reporter Rick Wells has found it in Tulsa and shows us where it is and how it works.

Danielle Wyman is shopping for a good melon; she presses on it, sniffs it and finally puts one in her cart. "If you press into the cantaloupe and it smells sweet then it's ripe." Says her grandma taught her how to do that. Most folks buy fruit with their fingers and noses, feeling and sniffing looking for clues to how ripe it is. Now there's a new package with a special smart sticker that does the sniffing for us it changes color as the pears ripen.

"Takes a lot of the guessing game out of it, cuts down on the bruising." Hugh Holt is a produce merchandiser for Reasor's. They've got the exclusive marketing agreement with the folks who invented this new ripe sensing technology.

Here's how it works. As the pears inside this plastic package ripen they give off an aroma. That dot reacts to the aroma, and changes color. Danielle Wyman: "Oh, does it tell you when it's ripe?" Exactly, from red when they're crisp, to pale yellow when they're juicy and ripe.

Coming soon to peaches, nectarines, plums, avocados, eventually cantaloupe and kiwi. They'll still have plenty of bulk fruit for folks with talented fingers like Libby Auld. "I'm a squeezer definitely a squeezer." She says her fingers know what ripe feels like; the rest of us will pay a few cents more and let the sticker do the talking there'll be no need to squeeze.

If you'd like to know more about how this new Ripe Sense packaging and how it works, there is a web site with more details.