Bananas seem to go bad quickly, and while banana bread is extremely yummy and a great way to use over-ripe bananas, you’ll want to keep them fresher for longer
Bananas are such a versatile tasty fruit, but they seem to go off within moments.
When you get back from the supermarket, it’s all too easy to dump the yellow fruit in the fruit bowl amongst your kiwis, tangerines, and apples – but this is a mistake according to one storage expert. Putting bananas with other fruits is what’s causing them to go bad quickly.
Food expert and founder of Magical Life Fruit, Katherine Kyle shared a storage “secret” that “nobody tells you”, admitting that bananas should be kept away from other items – including other ripe bananas. “Fruits let off ethylene gas when they are ripening, so keeping ripe fruit with unripe fruit will cause the unripe fruit to ripen more quickly”, she explained.
Ethylene gas helps bananas grow, but if bananas are stored with other bananas, then they can ripen at a speedy rate. Bananas produce ethylene gas from their stems, and if you want to stop them from turning brown, one of the most effective methods is to cover up the stems, reports The Express.
“The main way in which bananas ripen is by releasing gasses from the stems. So if you cover up the stems, you’re able to slow down the ripening process”, Katherine said.
You just need to break the bananas apart and wrap the stems in clingfilm. Do not remove the plastic wrap until you are ready to eat, and your bananas will last two weeks longer than they usually would.
Also, heat causes bananas to “ripen more quickly”, so keep them cool, and Katherine also recommends rubbing one teaspoon of citrus juice all over the yellow fruit to keep them fresher for longer. Citrus juice disrupts the enzymatic breakdown process and stops bananas without a peel from going brown or mushy.
Following these food storage tips will keep your bananas yellow and spot-free for up to 15 days longer, meaning that you can save money on your food shop, and cut down on food waste.
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