There’s an easy way to stop bananas from going brown and mushy quickly
Their wonderfully sweet flavour and minimal calorie content make bananas a perfect snack, but they do come with the drawback of having a relatively short shelf life.
If you purchase an entire bunch at the supermarket, you’ll frequently discover that several have gone brown and soft before you’ve had the chance to eat them, often resulting in unnecessary waste. When kept at room temperature, bananas typically last anywhere between two and six days, though this can differ depending on how ripe they are at the point of purchase.
Once fully ripe, they begin to turn brown rather rapidly, but will generally hold out for a few days before their texture and flavour become compromised. Unfortunately, bananas ripen more quickly in warmer conditions, and with summer well under way, you may notice your bananas are browning at an even faster rate.
Fortunately, it is possible to slow down the ripening process and preserve bananas for longer with a clever storage technique, which simply involves wrapping the stems in tin foil.
Tin foil works by trapping ethylene gas, a naturally occurring plant hormone that triggers and speeds up the ripening process, causing bananas to ripen and soften, reports the Express.
The gas prompts starches to convert into sugars and breaks down cell walls, which is what brings about a change in colour and texture in the fruit, turning green bananas yellow and sweeter, while yellow bananas will gradually begin to turn brown. Ethylene gas is mainly released from banana stems, so containing it with tin foil can help delay ripening and stop the fruit from browning too rapidly, thus prolonging its shelf life and maintaining its freshness for longer.
In its online guidance on preventing bananas from ripening too swiftly, Food Republic said: “Compared to other fruits and veggies, bananas are one of the biggest producers of ethylene gas, a natural chemical compound that promotes ripening.
“The majority of this gas is released through the exposed stem of the fruit, which allows a bunch of bananas to continue ripening even after it’s picked from the tree.
“Wrapping the top of your bunch with aluminium helps to trap in some of the ethylene, so it won’t escape into the atmosphere and touch the body of the bananas (or other produce you have sitting nearby, for that matter). This slows down browning and gives you more time to enjoy your bunch.”
If you haven’t got any tin foil available, then cling film should perform equally well, and both usually cost under £2 at most leading supermarkets.
It’s also advisable to keep your bananas separate from other fruit once you’ve covered the stems, as the ethylene gas can prompt neighbouring fruits to ripen more rapidly, meaning they will deteriorate sooner.
Numerous fruits react to the ethylene gas emitted by bananas, including apples, pears, and passion fruit, but citrus fruits like oranges and lemons remain unaffected. To prevent damaging other fruits, specialists advise hanging your bananas on a banana hook as this not only maintains separation but also avoids bruising that can occur from resting bananas against the kitchen counter.
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