Bananas are an exceptional case study when it comes to human consumption. Before the 19
th century
bananas were not commonly exported around the world due to their short shelf life, which would mean
that the bananas would not make it across the ocean or country borders. Little was known at that time
about conservation, ripening stages, chemicals, and many other new-found technologies to aid banana
life cycles for shipping. This was until the 20
st century when banana production saw a massive growth
across the globe. New techniques and processes were implemented, such as harvesting the banana
green, and the mass production of them which meant that the business model behind bananas started
to show signs of life. With modern technology bananas are able to make it through transatlantic
journeys with the help of climate-controlled containers, and when they reach their country of
destination they can be ripened according to the desired date of sale.
This aspect of banana conservation is ideal for modern trade, but what about controlling the way we
store bananas at home. Plenty of reasons exists for the need of storing bananas, be it to ripe or already
ripen, such as having too many, wanting to use them at a later date, not having the time to consume
them, and many more, but fear no more as there are simple methods to store them.
Starting by the process of storing ripe bananas. In many cases people might think to themselves what
use des a banana that is ripe might have in a future date, well the answer is simple: ripe bananas are
excellent for many delicious recipes.
First, we must pull the bananas from the banana bunch as keeping them together means the ethylene
gases released during the process will accelerate the overall ripening for the bunch. Next wrap the
stems of the bananas in plastic wrapping paper, which will prevent ethylene gas from reaching other
parts of the banana fruit and making it ripen too fast. A quick tip for this step is to put some tape of
rubber band around the wrapping paper to maintain it in place securely. After wrapping the banana
stem proceed by putting the bananas in the produce drawer of your refrigerator after they are fully ripe.
Refrigeration slows the ripening process considerably, but does not stop it. The peel will continue to
turn brown, but the fruit will stay fresh and firm for 1 to 2 weeks. Don’t panic if the peel starts becoming
black, the taste will be the same.
Alternately, if you wish to keep bananas for several months, you can peel the bananas and freeze them,
and you might wonder why peel them? Freezing a banana with the feel will result in the same lasting
effect, but taking out the peel once the banana has frozen is a task like no other. A reason to keep
bananas for months in the freezer has to due with cooking, in which case many people decide to cut a
large number of bananas and store them individually for smoothies, fruit sauce, drinks, and to bake. A
quick as easy method to simple grab a bad of frozen banana and throw it into the smoothie machine and
voila, a smoothie without much work. Another recipe if banana bread or cake, and they are great
alternatives when your bananas are fully ripe and not great for eating themselves.
On the other hand, storing bananas to ripen is a whole different ball game compared to storing them
ripe. On thing is common in both storing methods, the ethylene gas bananas release during the ripening
process.
The first step is the trickiest, yet most important, part to ripe a banana: choosing the stage and when
you want to have them ripen. With this in mind, the first thing to analyze is the color, if it’s green then it
is not ripe yet. Yellow, and those yellow with brown spots, are undergoing their ripening process
already, therefore will have a shorter window to be consumed.
The next step has a varying opinion, which is storing the bananas in a bag. Having bananas in a lot of
moisture can cause the fruit to root, but under ideal conditions the bag can help with the ripening
process as the ethylene gases will get trapped. To avoid rotting, many people choose to let the fruit
ripen at room temperature.
Another method is putting the bananas in a brown paper bag, and adding different fruits as well, this
will have a considerable effect and ripen the banana much quicker. If a much faster method is desired
then store unripe bananas with ripe bananas, this will make the ripening process incredibly fast.
Overall storing the banana for ripening is a straight forward method, with different solutions that can
speed up the process, but in summary just leaving the bananas alone will make them ripen naturally,
which is a quick process in itself. This was the main reason bananas didn’t make their worldwide
breakthrough until the 20th century as we mentioned above.
Now that you know how to store bananas properly, be it to make the ripening process faster or to slow
down the process, go out and buy some delicious bananas to enjoy as a snack, desert, and many other
sweet options.
As we just saw, storing bananas is a simple, yet effective, way of having your sweet and yellow fruits last
longer. Enjoy a delicious banana whenever you desire, as well as enjoying the health effects such as
maintaining heart function, blood pressure levels, bone density, vision, digestion and kidney health.
Bananas are also rich in nutrients, vitamins, and many more essential aspects that the body needs for
the day-to-day life. We welcome you to try these methods and if you have any question feel free to
contact us via email or through our social media profiles.
[orbital_cluster pages=”1388,1395,1348,1333,1381″ order=”DESC”]