Hi,
I have a party next week and I can't chop and serve fruits immediately. If I chop them and store in the fridge a day before the party, the fruits like bananas and apples especially discolour...or rather turn blackish. Is there any way I can stop them from discolouring and serve them with custard on the party day ???

If you want to stop bananas from going brown, put the unpeeled bananas in cold water for 10 mins,then peel and slice. They will last for one day, but not sure how they would be the next day.It is better to use firm bananas.If you do this for a bannoffi pie it will last as long as the pie does.

I once heard to put real lemon juice to stop from getting black.

If you do your fruit too soon you will loose a lot of the vitamin content.

Would it not be a better idea to have a different pud? I hate having to miss out when we have guests and there are dozens of gorgeous deserts to choose from. If you like custard you could always make a creme brulee adding fruit in the bottom of the ramekin.

Thanks for your suggestions. Has anyone tried these suggestions? I will have 50 people in the party and am already cooking the starter and maincourse. So I thought fruits with custard would be an easy one for the bulk. It would be great if someone suggests me easy dessert that can be prepared ahead of time without much hassle. Alex, is creme brulee an easy one for the bulk? If yes, then please give me the recipe or suggest me something else. Thanks in advance.

I have tried the lemon juice, and it does seem to work. However as Frexy says, the earlier you chop your fruit the more vitimins they will lose. You could do the fruit that won't discolour etc early, keep in the fridge and add the more perishable ones as late as possible.

Pud that can be done ahead of time? How about fruit crumble? (lots of different fruits to do seperate ones) a simple choccie mousse? or even trifle

Oh Trifle, that hit the spot, just love it.

Nimisha, That's a party and a half! I would change to Pavlova, 5 or 6 should do and they do look impressive and can be made in advance. Well the cream would need to be whipped on the day. Altermatively Pavlovas - 4 and use the egg yolks to make creme brulee in larger serving dishes. You can also be decadent and make some chocolate mousse. This would work on a buffet basis. What do you think. All you would have to do on the day is whip the cream, slice some strawberries or add raspberries and blowtorch the sugar on the brulee.

Alex, thanks for Pavlova. Its was the best one really. But I dislike it because it seems of egg after its baked which is very repelling to me. Trifle sounds good and its easy. Can I use the ready-to-use custard cartons available in the supermarkets ? What sort of measurements would I need to prepare for 50 people ? any more suggestions ? Thanks folks !!!

How about 5 large trifles, each to serve 10 portions.

Do you have that many dishes?
If not do a couple real fancy then do 3 in any container , serve them up into individual dishes on your buffet table with the 2 beauties on show so you kid people they were all like that.

thanks frexy. that's a very good idea.