Say what?!?

What would you even call this?
.......maybe a borange or an orange-a-ban
............... orange ya glad I didn't say banana

Prototype #1

My concept is protecting your fruit. Several measures are already taken to protect the fruit on the journey from the grower to the grocery store but what measures are taken to protect your fruit from the moment you buy it to the moment you eat? ...NONE.

That's where Fruit Armor (patent pending) comes in!

Right now, when you buy an apple at the grocery store you pick it from the shelf and put it directly into those little plastic bags that are conveniently located next to the fruit. That bag of fruit is then jostled around in your cart as you continue your grocery shopping, jostled on the way home and then jostled in your kitchen. At this point the apples don't seem to have suffered too much damage but that is because you have probably been pretty conscious of your fruit and its delicateness. However, when you decide to take a piece of fruit with you is when it is truly susceptible to the most damage. There are many objects in a backpack or purse that could damage an apple when it is just thrown in. Even if it is carefully placed in a pocket in a bag many things have the possibility of bumping into the apple and creating brown mushy spots.

If your apple was in a piece of Fruit Armor from the get go you wouldn't have to worry about any of this. The Fruit armor would be conveniently located next to the apples, instead of the small plastic bags, and you would put the fruit in the armor directly from the shelf before putting it into your cart. It wouldn't be until the exact moment you were ready to eat your apple that you would remove the armor. An apple could be thrown in any bag without the risk of bruising!

My first prototype is pretty MacGyvered together ( and I forgot my apples at home) but it gets the point across. I built it from existing paper pulp fruit trays and I am going to put an apple in it and carry it around this week and see how strong this paper pulp really is.



Wish me luck!

Pulping Your Fruit...

Originally I was trying to come up with a protective packaging that the grower would put the fruit in before transporting but I have come to the conclusion that that is only creating a bigger problem for myself. I am now thinking that my product will be available to consumers in grocery stores right next to the fruit.

A person picks a piece of fruit because it looks appealing to them. They spend time sorting through all the apples until they come to a specific one that calls to them for whatever reason. From there the consumer would reach for Fruit Armor (patent pending), instead of a small plastic bag, and place their piece of fruit inside of it before placing it in their basket. The Fruit Armor would be available to protect delicate fruits, such as apples, peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots, until the moment the consumer was ready to consume them.

As far as materials go, I am picturing a round form made of paper pulp. The pulp would be made from 100% recycled newspaper and would be 100% recyclable and 100% biodegradable. It has been used to package such delicate items as eggs and fluorescent light bulbs for years but has never been used for individual fruit protection. This material is ideal because it can easily be molded to the shape of those items and the fiber is relatively soft and cushions these delicate products by absorbing the impact.

Protecting Your Banana is no Laughing Matter....

Don't let this happen to you!





In researching fruit packaging I came across several funny banana protectors all which carry a certain (dirty/hilarious) connotation.



First we have the Banana Koolie. This is simply a neoprene sleeve for your banana. I'm not sure how well this product would work because neoprene is smushable just like the skin of a banana.






Then we have the Banana Guard. This device claims to fit over 90% of commercially available bananas. Apparently highly curved bananas can be straightened slightly to fit the upper curve and the very straight bananas can be bent ever so slightly to fit into the mold.




Lastly we have The Banana Bunker. (This is my favorite, mostly because it looks the funniest) It is a flexible, plastic device that prevents your bananas from being bruised. It fits almost any size banana due to its innovative design featuring open end caps (to allow thin ends to stick out) and a flexible and detachable mid-section. It comes in a variety of colors and with an informational video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P60CFNwvWlU

Aromatized Dishware: Midterm Review

This past Tuesday, February 2, we had our midterm review. Everyone's projects were based on the human interaction with food and Brittany and I did a project based on smell.

Seventy to seventy-five percent of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our sense of smell. Taste buds allow us to perceive only bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors. It's the odor molecules from food that give us most of our taste sensation. We wanted to see how we could play with people’s taste buds through smell by creating dishware that smells different than the item you are eating off it.

By eating a sugar cookie off a plate that smells like strawberries your brain thinks it is eating strawberry cookies. We hope that this product line could eventually carry many different scented plates to include smells like the ocean, crisp mountain air, and pine trees.

The project turned out really well and people did in deed think they were eating strawberry cookies while they stood in our box area and as soon as they walked away they would look at their cookie slightly confused because it no longer tasted like strawberry. It was a great success in my mind.

Protect Your Fruit

Nobody likes bruised fruit, which is part of the reason why I am proposing my fruit air pockets for industrial use in transporting fruit, and in my research I have found several other creative ways to protect your fruit.

These knitted fruit cozies are cute but I don't know how practical they are in actually protecting fruit.

Then there is this Hermes apple holder. They have created this lambskin apple purse specifically to protect your apple in a stylish way. If its between this or a bruised apple I think I'll go with the bruised because this holder goes fro $395, a little more than an apple is worth to me.







Then there are these banana hammocks. The ones on the right seem a bit impractical because not all bananas are shaped the same. While the one on the left seems like a practical idea in its simple design to fit all shapes and sizes...of bananas.



There are also these foam fruit nets that Harry and David often use in shipping their product all over the world. They allow fruit to be packaged next to each other in a box without casueing fruit on fruit bruising.




And then there are these blister packed blueberries. I love this design because blueberries are so easily squished and giving each berry it's own protective bubble seems like a great idea. However, I wonder how easy it is to actually get each berry out without squishing it because you'd have to push from one side to get anything out of a blister pack.





I hope that my fruity air pocket would eliminate the need for all of these products becuase not only would it protect the fruit in transportation form the growers to the consumer but would continue to protect the fruit up until the moment it is eaten.

Air Cushoning Cube

I envision my fruit pockets to be something like bubble wrap and having a cubic or somewhat
flat shape.

For the material I am thinking something like bubble wrap because bubble wrap is a pliable transparent plastic material commonly used for packing fragile items. Regularly spaced, protruding air-filled hemispheres provide cushioning for precious or breakable items.








Fruit is often put in situations where it can easily be dropped or knocked over and a cubic shape would stop it from rolling away.




This is another interesting shape because the somewhat round sides mirror the general shape of the most fruit while the flat top and bottom would stop it from rolling too far.