Bananas often ripen only after a few days of being bought, meaning a whole batch has to be eaten quickly otherwise they turn brown and go mushy.
However, it turns out that bananas should be lasting weeks without spoiling and that most people are storing them the wrong way as they should never be stored in a fruit bowl.
The stems of bananas produce a plant growth hormone called ethylene gas, which helps the fruit go from hard green bananas to tender and sweet yellow bananas ready to eat, but this gas also causes them to begin ripening quickly.
Apples, avocados, mangos, pears, peaches, and berries also produce ethylene gas, and when stored together the amount of ethylene gas produced will cause all of your fruit to begin rotting and will likely have to be thrown away before their time.
However, Brenda Anderson, a farmer, cook and founder of Little Lost Creations, has shared that to prevent this happening, you should store ripe bananas in the fridge as this is the best way to keep the fruit fresh.
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Brenda said: “Then a friend of mine told me something she had tried. I thought it sounded a little crazy, but I thought I would give it a try.
“She said to put the bananas in a brown paper grocery bag closed tightly, and put them in the crisper in the refrigerator. She said the peel would go black but the banana would taste good.”
It is a common misconception that bananas should never be stored in the fridge at all as it causes the peel to go black due to the cold temperature, which most people mistake for the banana spoiling.
However, if a yellow banana if kept in the fridge it will halt the ripening process and the fruit inside the peel will remain fresh and good to eat for weeks after being bought.
Brenda said: “After two and a half weeks in the crisper in the refrigerator I took my bananas out to try them. I really wanted to put this method to the test.
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