How to speed up or slow down the banana ripening process. Because sometimes you want to stretch that bunch out to last the week and sometimes you want it to hurry up and ripen.
The ubiquitous banana is one of the most universally liked and consistent fruit around. You pick up a ripe banana and you know exactly how it's going to taste all the time. Unlike a strawberry or a blueberry, which can sometimes be surprisingly sour, dry or even tasteless - a banana will never let you down. It will always taste like a banana.
That's exactly what makes it my favourite fruit. Not necessarily because of the taste, but because of the fact that no matter what, when I buy a banana I know what I'm getting. That was not the case with the grapes I bought last night which taste a lot like very small water balloons.
Bananas are the most dependable of all the berries.
Yes, berries. Google it. A banana is a berry. For something so mundane, bananas are actually filled with fun surprises. They're like one of those Gypsy wedding dresses that look basically normal until the moment the bride flicks a switch and it starts flashing lights and whirling live doves around.
Banana Facts
- Bananas are indeed considered a berry.
- Bananas make you happy. Like turkey, bananas have tryptophans and Vitamin B6 which helps your production of that feel good chemical - serotonin.
- Humans and bananas share 50% of their DNA.
- Bananas peels are scientifically proven to get rid of itchiness from bug bites, poison ivy and other miserable problems. Just rub the inside of the banana peel on the affected area. The inside of the peel contains a high amount of polysaccharides which relieve itch. Those polysaccharide molecules in the banana peel are ALSO what make it so slippery.
Told ya. Bananas are interesting. Gypsy level interesting!
The same night I bought the water balloon grapes, I also bought some oranges and greenish bananas. When I got home I thought I'd look up an old post of mine because in it I explained how to ripen bananas faster. I forgot my own information.
It happens.
You know when someone mentions something or says a word you've never heard before and you feel like an idiot? And then you suddenly notice that word or thing everywhere? Well, that happened to me a few years ago with bananas. Sort of.
Twice in as many days, two separate people, randomly, out of the blue, told me that bananas ripen at different speeds depending on whether you leave them in a bunch of separate them.
This was obviously a sign from the fruit Gods. At the very least, the Chiquita banana lady. I needed to find the truth about this. Was it possible? Did bananas really ripen differently depending on whether or not you pulled them apart?
This wasn't information I could just accept without some kind of proof.
This needed some detective work. So I put on my overcoat, my see-behind-you sunglasses which I got in a magic kit when I was 12 and went straight to the grocery store. I bought a bunch of completely green bananas all the while watching the guy behind me trying to slip a roast into his pants.
I separated two individual bananas from the bunch. So now I had 2 individual bananas and a bunch of bananas. Would one group ripen faster than the other?
Here are the results in technicolour video.
How to Ripen Bananas
Bananas left in a full bunch ripened almost twice as fast as bananas that were separated.
I only did this once, so it could have been a fluke, but the results are right there. The bananas in a bunch definitely ripened more quickly.
How to Make Bananas Ripen Faster.
How to make green bananas ripen faster at home.
Materials
- 1 bunch of bananas
Instructions
- Keep your bananas in a bunch and store them in a paper bag to help trap the ethylene gas.
- Check them daily.
Notes
Conversely, if you want your bananas to ripen more slowly separate them and keep them away from each other.
The Results
Bananas that were kept in a bunch ripened at about twice the rate as bananas that were separated.
Either way, once they were ripened, they all tasted exactly like a banana (with a slight Gypsy aftertaste.)
Great music ... made the video epic.
I actually got an email a month ago about this. I tried my own experiment and came to the same conclusion! Great post Karen!
How interesting that the tip of the single banana that was touching the bunch ripened quickly, while the rest of the banana didn't...
I know! I don't know if that was a fluke or not. ~ karen
Its an apeeling moral story. You don't have to be bananas to know that if you split from the bunch, you age slower.
I have never heard this before, thanks for the tip! My son will not touch a banana if it has more than two brown spots on it, so I end up using the super ripe ones in my morning smoothie. We rarely throw any out, but it's nice to know this will slow down the ripening process. Thanks Karen!
We buy our bananas at Aldi's- a no-frill store here. They have them still in the sealed bags. The bananas last a full week if you close up the bag after taking one. Now I know why the grocery stores take them out of the bag, it's so they look prettier, but they stay much longer in the plastic bag.
LOL!
Just watched the video... what's the story behind the cat with the bananas?
(Not sure why I think there's a story, considering I'm still awaiting the back story for the stair photograph.)
My setup for taking the time lapse pictures is in the basement. A white box, tripod with camera, light, etc. The camera automatically takes pictures every 7 minutes of the bananas. At some point my cat thought the warm box filled with bananas seemed like a great place to hang out. I went downstairs to find her smashed inside the light box with the bananas while the camera was taking pictures. ` karen!
They will ripen even faster if you wrap them in paper and place them in a cupboard. Just don't forget they're in there. ;)
I'm curious. The bananas you get so far up north...where are they grown?
Recently we started keeping the bunch-o-bananas in the corner cupboard of the kitchen. Figured it was a nice dark, cool spot. seems to have slowed down the ripening process.
But, learned something else. Don't put bananas and the dish of butter/margarine in the same space unless you like the flavor of banana butter. :/
Before I finished reading I was excited about why my single bananas always turned brown immediately and went bad so quick (last on the bunch) UNTIL I read your outcome. Now I have to do an experiment to find out if you leave it in a bunch, does the single one ripen much quicker on the last day without his friends? Could be they are social creatures and get depressed turning brown instead of blue.
you wouldnt believe how many people put roasts down their pants..and in their coats and shirts etc etc etc..boggles the mind!
LOL! ~ karen
THEY GAS OUR BANANAS????? WTH is up with THAT?? I have never heard of gassed or ungassed bananas!
LOL. They do. But they only gas them with the natural gas that they produce anyway so it isn't too big of a deal. :) ~ karen
I love bananas, but really picky about the 'perfect to me' amount of ripeness. Friend taught me years ago to refrigerate them. The skins turn a nasty brown but they don't continue ripening when chilled. Trust me on this, at least long enough to test it.
Y'all are going to love me for this!
Rosie
I live in the country in SE Ontario so have to drive up to an hour to grocery shop. I was conducting an art workshop in Florida and while setting up, I overheard two participants talking about refrigerating bananas to keep them from ripening. I have now been doing this for the last 15 years. I refrigerate a bunch in a plastic bag. I take one out everyday so that it ripens overnight and is good to go the next day with our porridge. They last up to two weeks are are never any riper than when I put them in the fridge. As Rosie says, even if they occasionally get brown on the outside, they are the same level of ripeness inside as when I put them in the fridge.
Karen...
the only thing I know about bananas:
never store them together with apples!
because the ripening of the apples let the bananas wrack much faster.
so I have got another experiment
my mom always told me,never stick tomatoes and cucumber together! what do you think of this advice?
I've also heard that if you wrap the stem end of the bananas in aluminum foil you will slow the ripening process.
More experiments for you to do because we're too lazy! :)
I've heard the same thing. Karen, would you please do this experiment?
I've done this--you can wrap it in almost anything actually, but foil and plastic wrap seem easiest. I actually had to UNwrap them so they would ripen a bit because after a week and a half we still had SUPERGREEN bananas.
I was taught to keep bananas separated from other fruit as well, because the ethylene they produce makes other fruit ripen faster.
I have been separating my bananas for years(learned this from my Mom). To make them even last longer, put separated bananas in a bag so they are covered and then store in a dark place. I put mine in my pantry cupboard. If they start out completely green, they can last for well over a week. I have also found that the organic bananas last longer.
Corinne - It's possible that the organic bananas are ungassed. That's weird about putting them in a bag. I would have thought they'd ripen faster in a bag because it would concentrate all the ethylene they produce. Are you just trying to get me to do another experiment, LOL? ~ karen!
Could possibly be another experiment. I have just always put them in a bag(cause my Mom told me to). Truthfully, I have never tried it without the bag, but will certainly be giving it a try. I think keeping them in a dark place also helps. I'll let you know what happens.
Just noticed this.... they do ripe faster, Karen.
I've never heard of ungassed bananas. I'll have to look for them. Thanks for the tip.
I had heard the same thing about the speed of banana ripening so I always separate mine when I bring them home. However it seems no matter what I do, my bananas always ripen faster than I want them to and I have more bananas left than desire to eat them. When that happens I just freeze them for a future foray into banana bread.
Thanks for your experiment. Much appreciated.
Gitana - You can also buy something called "ungasses" bananas in some grocery stores. When bananas are picked they're put in a room with ethylene gas to speed up the ripening process. Ungassed bananas haven't had this process and take much longer to ripen. Plus they seem to taste more bananaey. But that could just be me. ~ karen!
I've heard of ungassing beans.
Definitely will ripen you within a short period of time.
Like
Try wrapping some aluminum foil around the stems of several of the bananas to delay the ripening process so that they don't have to go the 'banana bread' route - altho I REALLY like banana bread!
I had been told that too but didn't believe it til now. Once again you come thru in the clinch !