Bananas are one of the most commonly consumed fruits in the world, but they are notoriously difficult to store as they go off quickly due to the ethylene gas they produce
Bananas, often tossed in a fruit bowl with others, end up spoiling quicker – a real no-no if you want them to last.
Those tricky bananas tend to ripen rapidly and turn brown because they’re ethylene gas champs, making everything around them ripen too fast as well. This notorious short-living fruit doesn’t play well with ethylene, which they produce loads of while also being quite sensitive to it.
Want a fresh, yellow banana for breakfast? The trick is to keep them away from the crowd – avoid placing them near apples, pears or avocados. For an extended banana life, Linda Tyler, cooking pro and Gracious Vegan founder, lets us in on a secret – fridge it!
It’s all about solo storage in the chilly zone to slow down that gas production. Don’t fret about brown skins – peeling reveals a still-perfect snack, reports the Express.
Linda assures: “If you can bring yourself to peeling that brown skin in the week following, you’ll find the banana inside to be firmer than its brothers and sisters left at room temperature, and its taste will be just fine.
“In other words, if you like ‘medium’ bananas, you should consider refrigerating them just after they lose their green cast.” It’s crucial to note that only fully ripe and yellow bananas are suitable for fridge storage, as green bananas shouldn’t be kept cold – the chilly temps in the fridge will completely stop the ripening process, causing unripened bananas to never properly develop and leaving a dreadful taste.
Only tuck bananas into your fridge’s crisper drawer once they’ve turned a perfect yellow. If there’s even a hint of green, hold off and let them mature on your kitchen counter instead. Linda shared her own experience: “I tried refrigerating a couple of green bananas. The good news is that the peel didn’t turn brown.”
But then, the bad news: “But the bad news is that the banana inside didn’t start to ripen, so it wasn’t sweet or tasty – it just kind of stalled in the pre-ripened state.”
Proper storage means your bananas will stay fresh and full of flavour for much longer, avoiding waste and potentially saving you some coin on your grocery bill.
