Bananas are a tasty fruit that is infamous for turning brown and mushy only days after being bought, but there are three easy storage methods to get them to stay fresher for longer.
Mollie, a nutritional expert and founder of Parsley and Pumpkins Nutrition, has explained that bananas begin spoiling as soon as they are harvested, which is why they often spoil in no time at all.
She said: “Bananas are picked two weeks before they arrive at your grocery store. They’re shipped in refrigerated containers that are designed to control the amount of ethylene the bananas are exposed to.
“Once they arrive close to town they’re kept in special ripening rooms at a warehouse and then shipped in refrigerated trucks to your local grocery store.
“You and I are talking about trying to get just one more week out of a bunch of bananas. Just one more week out of an already two-week-old banana that has been shipped across the world!”
However, you can take back those two weeks and get bananas to last up to seven to 15 days longer than they normally would by following Mollie’s three simple food storage methods.
Three ways to store bananas so they stay fresher for longer
1. Wrap the banana stems in plastic
Another reason bananas often spoil is that many people do not know that bananas should never be stored in a fruit bowl, and it is one of the worst places to store them in a kitchen.
Bananas produce a plant-growing hormone called ethylene gas, but many other fruits also produce this gas and it can accelerate the ripening process when lots of fruit is stored together.
You can prevent this and keep your bananas yellow by wrapping up their stems, which will stop the production of ethylene gas and prevent it from affecting your bananas.
Mollie said: “The theory is that bananas ‘breathe’ through the stem so covering the stem in plastic will prevent ripening.”
Wrap bananas in clingfilm, tin foil or even paper and rubber bands then keep them stored away from other fruit to have yellow and fresher bananas for much longer.
2. Keep the bananas hanging on a rack
It might seem like a strange method, but one way to keep bananas fresh is by breaking them apart and hanging them up on a rack as it can decrease the amount of ethylene gas around the fruit.
Mollie explained: “Ethylene is heavier than air. By raising the bananas off the counter, the ethylene will have less contact with the bananas and so they should ripen more slowly.”
When bananas are bunched together they are also more likely to bruise each other which can also cause them to spoil quickly, so destroying the stem will cause less physical damage while also slowing down the amount of ethylene being produced.
3. Store bananas in the fridge
It is a common misconception that bananas should never be stored in the fridge as they turn the banana skin black, but what many people do not know is that the fruit inside will still stay fresh despite its unsightly appearance.
Mollie said: “Since bananas are kept in cold storage during their long journey to the grocery store it makes sense that putting them into your home refrigerator could keep them green longer.
“However, your home refrigerator is much colder than the cold storage used to transport fruits and veggies. The cold will damage the banana peel, causing it to turn brown, but the banana inside is still fresh. “
Trying out any of these methods should keep bananas yellow, firm and fresh for up to 15 days longer, which can help save you some money on your food shopping.
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