Bananas are a staple in most households, but they can go mushy and brown quickly.
Bananas are a go-to breakfast fruit, whether it’s mashing them onto toast or stirring them into porridge. But, many get frustrated that they often turn brown and squishy within a day of bringing them home from the supermarket
Katherine McPhillips of the Express says she loathe wasting food and was on the verge of giving up on bananas altogether. That is until one day when she left them on the kitchen worktop while unpacking her shopping, instead of putting them in the fruit bowl.
The next morning, the bananas looked fresher and more yellow than any other fruit she’d recently bought. That’s when she realised that the fruit bowl is actually “one of the worst places to store them”.
After further investigation she found out that bananas are extremely sensitive to ethylene, an invisible gas produced by most fruits that most people don’t notice.
Ethylene plays a crucial role in helping fruit ripen and develop flavour. However, when too much of it is concentrated in one area, it causes all nearby produce to rot, reports.
Bananas tend to spoil quickly because they release a high amount of ethylene. When stored near other ethylene-sensitive fruits like apples and avocados, this causes them to spoil rapidly.
While it may seem logical to store bananas in a fruit bowl, this often leads to them becoming overly ripe and soft rather quickly. I’ve now taken to storing my bananas on a corner of my kitchen worktop, where they stay fresh for up to a week longer.
“However, I’ve stumbled upon an even more effective method for prolonging their shelf life: wrapping their stems. This is because bananas release ethylene gas from their stems, which accelerates ripening,” she said.
So, a simple trick to keep them fresh is to wrap their stems in a bit of tin foil or cling film. This can keep them fresh for weeks.
Both cling film and tin foil create an airtight seal around the banana stems, preventing the ethylene gas from escaping.
Katherine said: “Do not make the same mistake I did and use baking paper to wrap up bananas as I have learned through experience that it does not work as it cannot seal properly around the banana stems to stop ethylene gas escaping.”
She decided to test how long bananas would last if their stems were wrapped. After trying it with a newly bought banana, she found it was still fresh after 10 days.
She added: “All you need is a bit of tin foil, and your bananas will remain fresh for nearly two weeks longer than if you’d simply thrown them into a fruit basket.
“It should be noted it is also better to keep your bananas in a bunch rather than separating them. A few days ago, one of the bananas that I accidentally broke off is going a little spotty compared to the rest that are still attatched.
“I have also learned online that you can also store bananas in the fridge to keep them fresh, as the cold temperatures will significantly slow down ripening and stop them spoiling.
“I decided to put the spotty bananas in the fridge for my lunch, and after five days it does not appear to have changed at all as it is still yellow and perfectly fine to eat.
“Storing bananas correctly is surprisingly simple, and I am amazed at how much money I have wasted by not looking into proper food storage sooner.”