You could do what React warns you when you try to set the "selected" property of the <option>:

Use the defaultValue or value props on <select> instead of setting selected on <option>.

So, you can use options.value on the defaultValue of your select

Here is a complete solution which incorporates the best answer and the comments below it (which might help someone struggling to piece it all together):

UPDATE FOR ES6 (2019) - using arrow functions and object destructuring

in main component:

class ReactMain extends React.Component {

  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = { fruit: props.item.fruit };
  }

  handleChange = (event) => {
    this.setState({ [event.target.name]: event.target.value });
  }

  saveItem = () => {
    const item = {};
    item.fruit = this.state.fruit;
    // do more with item object as required (e.g. save to database)
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <ReactExample name="fruit" value={this.state.fruit} handleChange={this.handleChange} />
    )
  }

}

included component (which is now a stateless functional):

export const ReactExample = ({ name, value, handleChange }) => (
  <select name={name} value={value} onChange={handleChange}>
    <option value="A">Apple</option>
    <option value="B">Banana</option>
    <option value="C">Cranberry</option>
  </select>
)

PREVIOUS ANSWER (using bind):

in main component:

class ReactMain extends React.Component {

  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    // bind once here, better than multiple times in render
    this.handleChange = this.handleChange.bind(this);
    this.state = { fruit: props.item.fruit };
  }

  handleChange(event) {
    this.setState({ [event.target.name]: event.target.value });
  }

  saveItem() {
    const item = {};
    item.fruit = this.state.fruit;
    // do more with item object as required (e.g. save to database)
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <ReactExample name="fruit" value={this.state.fruit} handleChange={this.handleChange} />
    )
  }

}

included component (which is now a stateless functional):

export const ReactExample = (props) => (
  <select name={props.name} value={props.value} onChange={props.handleChange}>
    <option value="A">Apple</option>
    <option value="B">Banana</option>
    <option value="C">Cranberry</option>
  </select>
)

the main component maintains the selected value for fruit (in state), the included component displays the select element and updates are passed back to the main component to update its state (which then loops back to the included component to change the selected value).

Note the use of a name prop which allows you to declare a single handleChange method for other fields on the same form regardless of their type.

Here is the latest example of how to do it. From react docs, plus auto-binding "fat-arrow" method syntax.

class FlavorForm extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {value: 'coconut'};
  }

  handleChange = (event) =>
    this.setState({value: event.target.value});

  handleSubmit = (event) => {
    alert('Your favorite flavor is: ' + this.state.value);
    event.preventDefault();
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <form onSubmit={this.handleSubmit}>
        <label>
          Pick your favorite flavor:
          <select value={this.state.value} onChange={this.handleChange}>
            <option value="grapefruit">Grapefruit</option>
            <option value="lime">Lime</option>
            <option value="coconut">Coconut</option>
            <option value="mango">Mango</option>
          </select>
        </label>
        <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
      </form>
    );
  }
} 

I was making a drop-down menu for a language selector - but I needed the dropdown menu to display the current language upon page load. I would either be getting my initial language from a URL param example.com?user_language=fr, or detecting it from the user’s browser settings. Then when the user interacted with the dropdown, the selected language would be updated and the language selector dropdown would display the currently selected language.

Since this whole thread has been giving fruit examples, I got all sorts of fruit goodness for you.

• First up, answering the initially asked question with a basic React functional component - two examples with and without props, then how to import the component elsewhere.

• Next up, the same example - but juiced up with Typescript.

• Then a bonus finale - A language selector dropdown component using Typescript.

Basic React (16.13.1) Functional Component Example. Two examples of FruitSelectDropdown , one without props & one with accepting props fruitDetector

import React, { useState } from 'react'

export const FruitSelectDropdown = () => {
  const [currentFruit, setCurrentFruit] = useState('oranges')
  
  const changeFruit = (newFruit) => {
    setCurrentFruit(newFruit)
  }
  
  return (
    <form>
      <select 
        onChange={(event) => changeFruit(event.target.value)}
        value={currentFruit}
      >
        <option value="apples">Red Apples</option>
        <option value="oranges">Outrageous Oranges</option>
        <option value="tomatoes">Technically a Fruit Tomatoes</option>
        <option value="bananas">Bodacious Bananas</option>
      </select>
    </form>
  )
}

Or you can have FruitSelectDropdown accept props, maybe you have a function that outputs a string, you can pass it through using the fruitDetector prop

import React, { useState } from 'react'

export const FruitSelectDropdown = ({ fruitDetector }) => {
  const [currentFruit, setCurrentFruit] = useState(fruitDetector)
  
  const changeFruit = (newFruit) => {
    setCurrentFruit(newFruit)
  }
  
  return (
    <form>
      <select 
        onChange={(event) => changeFruit(event.target.value)}
        value={currentFruit}
      >
        <option value="apples">Red Apples</option>
        <option value="oranges">Outrageous Oranges</option>
        <option value="tomatoes">Technically a Fruit Tomatoes</option>
        <option value="bananas">Bodacious Bananas</option>
      </select>
    </form>
  )
}

Then import the FruitSelectDropdown elsewhere in your app

import React from 'react'
import { FruitSelectDropdown } from '../path/to/FruitSelectDropdown'

const App = () => {
  return (
    <div className="page-container">
      <h1 className="header">A webpage about fruit</h1>
      <div className="section-container">
        <h2>Pick your favorite fruit</h2>
        <FruitSelectDropdown fruitDetector='bananas' />

      </div>
    </div>
  )
}

export default App