Bananas are one of the most popular and economical fruit worldwide. It helps improve the health of a person in numerous ways. The banana is pronounced as ‘leathery berry’. It is firm as well as velvety, and satiating. However, the major difficulty lies with their transport and keeping them fresh and from ripening. They are very delicate. Moreover, they ripen really quickly. The fruit becomes softer as it ripens, and starts losing its charm and appeal. Bananas turn brown for a variety of reasons and in this article, we shall teach you how to keep green bananas from ripening.
Bananas turn brown for many diverse reasons. When you slit open a banana either green or yellow, the oxygen touches enzymes in the banana, leaving the inside brown.When a bananas outer turns brown, it is because the banana’s yellow pigment is broken down and not replaced,fabricating a brown color. Bananas like many other fruits unsurprisingly discharge ethylene gas– which is mainly responsible for controlling the browning and ripening of green bananas, and this gas is usually discharged from the stems.
Shelf-life of green Bananas
Unripe green bananas can keep glowing on the kitchen counter for up to 7 days depending on its ripeness.
8 insanely effective ways to keep green bananas from ripening. You can prevent this ripening from happening with these tips presented below leaving the bananas partially green if not completely. Although overripe bananas are equally appetizing and edible, keeping them fresh for longer is even better.
Storing the Bananas nicely and properly
Entertain the bananas out of the plastic bag as soon as you come back home. Bananas sheltered in bags (green bags, paper bags) would ripen quicker although paper bags are better of them all. Bananas exposed to room temperature ripen considerably slower and evenly as compared to when they are exposed to unswerving heat or sunlight. Always try to reside them far away from the stove, heater, boiler, and window. Stock them in a healthy-ventilated, cool, shady place.Never keep the bunch of those green bananas directly onto the kitchen counter as Bananas resting on a countertop are likely to get bruised and discolored.
Ways on how to keep Green Bananas from Ripening
Place Bananas In a Basket
Keep the bananas in a basket. This will protect this soft and delicate fruit from bruising. Fruit baskets often have hooks to hang bananas, if not then try hanging the entire basket because hanging the green bananas is the finest way of storing them without getting them damaged.
Refrigerate Bananas but not the green ones
Under no circumstances should the green bananas be refrigerated. They would not ripen suitably,and even if you remove them afterward, they would not be able to take up again with the ripening process even after regaining the room temperature.
But after those green bananas have ripened and you are not going to consume them immediately,put them in a plastic bag, seal it, and keep it in the fridge. Doing this will leave the peels to darken, but the inner fruit will not be affected as much. Take them out from the refrigerator a few hours before you plan on munching them, let them respond by achieving the room temperature or according to your preference of enjoying them, and then chomp on them. Even the green bananas after ripening can breathe in your refrigerator for at least one week.
Keep at an arm’s length with Other Fruits
Place the green bananas away from other ripe fruits. This can help interrupt the process of ripening. Ripe fruits yield ethylene, and unripe fruits tend to ripe faster when exposed to ethylene. Ethylene speeds up maturation and mellowing of fruits. So this applies to bananas as well.
Wrap the Stems either with foil or plastic
Wrapping the stems (the crown) in cling wrap thwarts the discharge of ethylene from the stems.It also prevents vaporization of moisture and absorption of ethylene released by other fruits,not completely but to some extent. You can place some tape over the plastic wrap to tighten it. Alternately, you can wrap the stems with foil. Every time you remove a banana from the bunch,make sure to wrap it back again carefully. This will help keep them greener for longer.In some cases it has been observed that wrapping up with foil shows better results.
Divide and Rule
There are gaps even in between the bananas that are naturally all together in a bunch. So, you cannot get a constricted seal on them. If you want them to remain greener for as long as possible,separate them carefully avoiding breaking the stems. It is easier to cape the stem of a single banana as compared to wrapping the whole bunch. Put the individual bananas in a tray or on a paper napkin, in a way that there is some gap between every two bananas. So, the process that leads to the yellowing on the skin of the green bananas can be decelerated a little.
And, without taking out the stem wrapper, you can open the bananas from the opposite side, and can use the wrapped stem as a holder to hold them.
Get a Banana Bunker
A banana in a banana lunch box can keep it green for longer. Various types of colorful banana carriers are available in the markets, green ones too. These hard plastic cases have small hovels for ventilation and freshening. A banana bunker which is a light-weight plastic case helps guard this delicate fruit against early yellowing of the green ones, and also other valuables (important papers, books, etc.) in your handbag, sac, or briefcase if you are traveling taking bananas with you for a quick snack. The cases are so well designed that they prevent bruising of the fruit too.
Banana Chemical Treatment
Bananas dipped in a solution of lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) for a good 30 minutes keep safer, greener and thicker than raw and unprocessed bananas with an expansion in the shelf life by two to three days. This method is usually used for commercial banana growers, however making it a method to prevent the green bananas from ripening too soon.
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Effects of Different Variables on the Ripening of Green Bananas
The banana ripening mainly depends on temperature and humidity.
Effect of Temperature on Ripening
The shelf-life of bananas increases as external temperature drops; a 1°C decrease increases storage age by 1-2 days. However, fruits suffer negatively not positively if kept at temperatures below 11°C. The optimal storage temperature for a banana is 13-14°C, at which they fully mature and unripe green fruits can then be kept for 1-2 weeks.
Effect of Humidity on Ripening
According to research, lower humidity (60 – 65%) accelerates and hastens the ripening of banana and produces low-quality ripe fruit, while higher humidity yields good tasting fruit. The high humidity interrupts the ripening of bananas, green ones too, increasing their shelf life. The optimum humidity settings for banana ripening are 90 to 95% relative humidity.
Effect of Wounding on Bananas
Have you noticed that the side of the banana that rests on the table ripens more quickly than the other parts? This is mainly because that side has the most exposure to its own ethylene.
Bruises or punctures on the banana will haste up the ripening process, as they expose it to air,leaving the green bananas to ripe way faster than they naturally would. Try to always place the bananas on the counter facing down (tips down), so that the tips are carrying the most weight of the bananas to avoid any bruises that are solely why there are products marketed explicitly for tidying away bananas in a hanging position to prevent premature ripening.
Effect of Packaging on Banana Ripening
The degree of ripening is logically affected by the surroundings. So appropriate packaging can help us in preventing green bananas to ripen wild.
Consider Putting 1 green banana in a paper bag which is porous and permeable to allow some oxygen in and at the same time contains the ethylene released by the banana inside, the second green banana in a plastic bag. This bag obviously does not allow air from outer but has some air already in, and consider wrapping the third one with a plastic tightly which has no air at all.
Open the bags after a few days. You will find that the green banana in the paper bag has ripened faster than the bananas in the plastic bag. But the green banana tightly wrapped in plastic will be the greenest in color, it will ripen most slowly because of the absence of oxygen. So this should be our main policy to prevent green bananas to ripen quickly.
Wrapping Up!
The green bananas wide-open to air ripen faster than the bananas that are somehow sheltered from the air.
That is mainly why shopkeepers wrap the bananas, mangoes, and other fruits with a smaller shelf life in glad wrap to slow down their ripening similar to which is our conclusion for prevention of the ripening of green bananas.
It is motivating to note that the wrapping and packaging of bananas in 100-150-gauge polyethylene bags keep them attractive, fresh and tastefully flavored ripe fruit as compared to those packed in 200 of these bags. So in order to prevent green bananas from ripening, we should try to follow this approach.
