Storing bananas in the fruit bowl might seem like a no-brainer, but experts warn it’s a fast track to mushy disaster.
The culprit behind your rapidly rotting fruit is ethylene gas, a natural plant hormone that speeds up ripening and boosts flavour.
Piling up fruit together triggers an ethylene gas overload, causing everything in close contact to go off fast.
Bananas, notorious for their fleeting shelf life, are particularly vulnerable to ethylene and also produce it from their stems.
To avoid them going bad within several days, Zest Food Service advise keeping bananas away from other fruits like lemons and oranges that have protective peels.
They cautioned: “The ethene which bananas release can affect many other fruits, such as apples and pears, which is why you should keep the bananas separate from these fruits unless you intentionally want to ripen them quicker.”
For those looking to speed up the ripening process, feel free to buddy up bananas with avocados or other ethylene-sensitive fruits like honeydew, mangos, peaches, and plums.
Instead, experts suggest isolating them in a separate bowl and wrapping their stems in cling film or tin foil.
The food gurus explained: “If you block this crown with cling-film or silver foil, you can prevent the gas from escaping and severely slow down the ripening process. This could give you another five to seven days on the natural ripening timescale.”
But there’s more to banana preservation. When they start sporting those tell-tale spots, popping them into the fridge can further delay their ageing.
While it may sound odd given bananas’ tropical origins fridges can be this fruit’s best friend for maximising shelf-life.
The pros advised: “You can store them in the fridge and this will maintain the firmness and flavour of the banana but will allow the skin to turn brown, even though the fruit inside remains light coloured.”
Don’t fret over a blackened skin as the banana within stays perfectly edible for five to seven days longer.
Just remember that refrigerating green bananas is a no-go as it halts the ripening dead in its tracks, leaving taste and texture in the lurch.
They warned: “If you stick a green banana in the fridge or wrap the stem, it will stay green and unripe, so choose the level of ripeness you desire, before pursuing either of the above options.”
