“I just bought this comb of yellow bananas two days ago, and now it’s all brown?” If this phrase resonates in your household once too often, we hear you. It feel like just yesterday it was green and today they’ve turned brownish-yellow. One might wonder how miraculously quick a banana ripens, but it turns out there are several factors that contribute to the rapid ripening of this delicious yellow fruit.
Just like many other fruits, their shelve-life depends on temperature, humidity and storage method. In order to keep bananas from over-ripening, follow these tips and you’ll never need to make another banana cake using them brown bananas in order to prevent them being tossed in the bin.
Here are some useful tips to store your bananas better, before you go bananas!
Hang the bananas
The ripening process of bananas starts as soon as they’re taken from their tree. As soon as they’re plucked, the stem will start releasing ethylene gas. Thankfully there’s an easy way you can slow down the ripening process, which is by hanging. Additionally, avoid bruising your bananas on a fruit bowl. Of course you can make your own construction to hang them, but fortunately they’re also available special ‘banana hangers’.
Buy green bananas
It’s very easy to get carried away choosing the golden yellow ones out of the bunch, but it’s a safe bet choosing the green variant. This way, they’ll be good for eating after turning ripe a little later. Or make a tasty treat out of them when they’re overripe!
Wrap the stem in plastic foil
As you know that the stem gives off ethylene gas which speeds up the ripening process. Luckily, there’s a way to prevent this from happening. You simply wrap the stem in some plastic foil or tin foil. It’s best to do this for every separate banana. It might not look esthetically pleasing, but it does the job!
Put every ripe banana in your fridge
Storing bananas in the fridge might sound alien to you. But it’s true: keeping the ripe, yellow bananas in a fridge can stretch the fruit’s lifespan. However, it’s not a good idea to do this with green bananas as it will prevent it from ripening altogether.
Freeze the bananas
Another way to keep your bananas good, is by freezing them! Our tip is to do so when they’re ripe. Obviously we’re not asking you to toss the whole banana in the freezer with the skin. Cut the banana into pieces and keep them in zip lock bags. This’ll make it that much easier if you want to work the frozen fruit into a recipe at a later moment!
Buy a banana box
No doubt you’ve been in this situation: you’ve taking a banana with you to work, but by the time you arrive at your workplace, it’s all brown and banged up from sitting in your bag. This is where a banana box comes in: a hard case for your banana that keeps it from bruising in your bag.
