All of us have been there. When you buy a beautiful bunch of fresh bananas, you frequently believe you have a few days to eat them all before they turn brown. However, everyone is aware that bananas ripen very quickly.
Fortunately, there are easy ways to keep bananas at the yellow stage, just as there are shortcuts for hastening the ripening of other vegetables. Here are a few of the best ways to keep bananas from browning too quickly, whether you’re working with unpeeled bananas or their peeled cousins.
1. Hang your bananas
Banana stems contain ethylene gas, which starts to escape as soon as the fruit is cut from the tree but moves more slowly when the fruit is hung from a hook.
This is due to the fact that hanging them stops the bananas from bruises and reduces the chance that the banana flesh will be exposed to oxygen, which would otherwise hasten the ripening process.
Pick a fruit basket with a built-in hook or a little under-cabinet banana-specific hook. Leave your bananas on the hook for them to ripen at room temperature in either scenario.
2. Buy green bananas
The simplest way to extend the life of your bananas is to buy the greenest bananas you can find. Choose firm, green bananas with no black spots or peel abrasions. They are plucked while still green, and over time they slowly ripen to the lovely bright yellow colour we love.
3. Store the Bananas Properly
When you get home, remove the bananas from the plastic bag right away. Bananas that were wrapped in bags—green bags or paper bags—would ripen more quickly. When left at room temperature, bananas ripen gradually and uniformly. Make sure they aren’t exposed to sunlight or intense heat. Keep them away from the heater, stove, and windows. Keep them in a cold, dark, well-ventilated area. The banana bunch that is depicted in the image below should not be kept. On a kitchen countertop, bananas are more prone to sustain bruises.
4. Wrap banana stems in plastic wrap
Ethylene gas which originates from the stems causes bananas to ripen, you can wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminium foil to delay the ripening process. If you want the best results, separate your bananas and wrap each stem separately. You may have also noticed Supermarkets and Grocery stores selling bunches of bananas with plastic wrap on the stems, keep it on.
5. Refrigerate ripe bananas
Bananas should never be stored in the refrigerator especially when it comes to green bananas but rules are meant to be broken, you can put them in when they completely ripen. The chilly temperatures in the fridge will prevent them from further ripening, but you should keep green bananas away from the refrigerator.
6. Freeze the banana chunks
If you plan to store bananas for more than a few days, One of the simplest ways to preserve bananas for later use is to freeze them. However, how well bananas thaw out could be greatly influenced by how they are frozen. The peels will become darker if the entire bunch is frozen, and they won’t defrost well. Consider freezing individual, peeled bananas or banana slices in sealed, resealable bags as an alternative.
7. Buy a banana keeper
Your bananas can suffer greatly from bruises, it causes squishy parts and quicker ripening. This is why you need a banana keeper. These can hold one at a time, which is a terrific way to keep individual bananas ripe.
8. Give them a Lime Bath
After being chopped, bananas can be kept from browning by using any acidic fruit juice—pineapple, orange, grapefruit, or lemon juice—and this can be sprinkled a tiny bit over the slices. The pieces can even be submerged in lemon juice for two to three minutes. After peeling them, you can drizzle some lemon juice over them if you plan to eat them whole.
Alternatively, you can also use a brush to apply the juice on the bananas.
9. Give the bananas a vinegar bath.
Another suprising way to Keep Bananas fresh for longer is using vinegar. Like citrus juice, vinegar can be diluted with water and spread over to avoid the banana from turning “brown mush,” then eat, if you taste the vinegar while doing so, rinse your bananas thoroughly before eating.
10. Separate Bananas from other fruits.
Bananas should be kept apart from other ripe fruits. This helps slow the ripening process down. Fruits that are ripe release ethylene, which causes unripe fruits to ripen more quickly when exposed to it. Fruit maturity and abscission are accelerated by ethylene. The same holds true for bananas.
