How to Purchase, Ripen and Keep Bananas Fresh for Longer

Banana is a perishable fruit and it is very difficult to keep it fresh for a long time. However, the good thing is that it can be easily ripened at home; therefore one should purchase banana at right stage of ripening to keep them fresh for longer and avoid spoilage.

In this article, I am going to share how to pick bananas, ripen them at home and keep them fresh for long time.

Bananas are one of the most affordable and easily available fruits across the globe. They are available all around the year. The fruit comes in a lot of varieties and sizes.

Usually, bananas are harvested raw. After harvesting, the fruit goes through various stages of ripening from green and firm raw bananas to brown and mushy over-ripened ones with varying shades of yellow in between.

The process of ripening happens very fast, moving from one stage to the next in a day. Color, firmness, and sweetness of banana are directly related to its stage of ripeness.

The carbohydrates in green bananas are primarily starches that are converted to sugar as they ripen.

How to Purchase Bananas?

One should select bananas depending on when they want to use them, for what they want to use them and their personal preference for the degree of ripeness.

Some people love slightly over-ripened bananas while others may prefer bananas which are less sweet and more firm.

The unripe bananas are used for making curries and chips. Ripe ones are used for eating raw and over-ripened bananas are excellent choice for the dishes like cakes, muffins, shakes etc.

Signs that indicate ripeness of bananas are:

• Colour: Ripened Bananas are yellow without any green color on ends.
• Brown spots: Banana also develops tiny brown spots called sugar specks on ripening.
• Ease of breaking stem for peeling: Stem of ripe banana can be easily broken for peeling.
• Skin of banana: The skin of ripe banana separates easily from the fruit on peeling.

The best color stage to buy bananas is when they are mostly yellow with a tinge of green at ends or at ridges so that they can be used in the next couple of days.

You can also buy small bunches of bananas at different stages of ripeness for immediate and later use.

Select bananas which are full, plump and have intact skin.

Depressed, darkened, soft and moist areas on fruit indicate that it is bruised inside. It happens mostly due to poor handling. Such pieces should be avoided.

Do not buy bananas which have a greyish tone. They acquire a grey tone when exposed to excess cold or heat. Such bananas do not ripen properly.

Pick the bananas that are sized best for your appetite & need. There’s no difference in the quality/ taste of small and large fruit.

Buy only as much quantity as you feel you will consume before they are overripe. Your previous experiences may help to plan for that.

Bananas bruise easily, so do not stuff them at the bottom of the grocery bag.

How to Ripen Banana at Home?

Bananas continue to ripen naturally after harvesting. They produce ethylene gas as they ripen which speed up the ripening process.

We can make use of this property to hasten to ripen.

1. Keep the bananas you want to ripen together, larger the number, more will be the concentration of ethylene gas.
2. Put bananas you want to ripen in a paper bag and loosely fold the bag on the top. You can also wrap them in aluminium foil. It will enhance the concentration of ethylene gas produced by the fruit and fruit will ripen more quickly.
3. You can also keep a ripe banana, an apple, or a tomato (as they will also emit ethylene gas) along with the unripe bananas.
4. Another tip is that keep the bunch of bananas in a warmer place like on the sunny window sill, near the stove, heater or the refrigerator.
5. You can also ripen bananas for preparing dishes by putting partially ripened bananas with peel in the oven (15-30 minutes) or microwave (30 seconds to 2 minutes). Check-in between for your desired degree of ripeness.

How to Store Bananas at Home?

Bananas can be stored on the kitchen counter, away from direct heat and sunlight unless they are ripened.

After ripening, they will start decaying in two days.

To avoid this one can refrigerate bananas after ripening. But there are some drawbacks of refrigerating:

• The colour of peel will turn brown on refrigerating. So it will not be pleasant to look, but the fruit inside will be fine.
• Allow fruit to come at room temperature before eating for better taste. However, the fruit will become soft on thawing and not liked by many people.

So a better way is to use over ripened refrigerated bananas for baking or preparing smoothies or other drinks.

Conclusion

Purchase bananas in right quantity depending on your need and at different stages of ripeness.

Buy some ripened bananas for immediate use and some partially ripened ones for later use.

Bananas can easily be ripened at home by putting them in a paper bag and leaving them on the kitchen counter for a couple of days.

I hope you found this blog post useful. Feel free to add your ideas in comments section.

I look forward to hearing from you!!!