Bananas are a finicky fruit. It seems that no matter how fresh you buy them or how quickly you eat them, in the end, you’re always stuck with a few brown ones. So, what are poor banana lovers to do?
One Instructables user, who goes by the name ‘wilgubeast‘, has recently revealed the trick to keeping bananas fresh— and man, I wish I would have known this sooner!
The Science Behind the Methods
If you’re not a science geek, feel free to skim past this section.
Basically, when a fruit is cut, enzymes housed in its cells are released. When one of these enzymes, called phenolase catalyses, makes contact with oxygen, a chemical conversion occurs, turning our bananas the dreaded brown color.
Additionally, ethylene has been known to encourage fruit ripening. When you peel or cut a banana, ethylene levels are particularly high in “the separating tissues”, resulting in that mushy, overly ripened texture.
Method 1: Wrapping the Bundle of Stems with Plastic Wrap
This method works by stopping ethylene gas from reaching areas of the banana, ultimately slowing down the ripening process. Although wilgubeast does admit that this method is “hit or miss” because the plastic is unlikely to stop all ethylene gas from reaching the bananas, he does confirm that “it’s certainly better than nothing.”
When you remove a banana from the bunch, don’t forget to re-wrap the stems!
Method 2: Wrapping the Stems Individually
While wrapping the stems of an entire bundle is certainly going to prevent some of the ethylene gas from ripening the fruit, most bananas ripen at different rates. Wilgubeast explains, “Your prematurely ripe bananas are going to put off more ethylene gas which will only serve to make ALL the bananas ripen that much quicker.”
So, instead of wrapping them as a bundle, separate the bananas by ripeness, and wrap the less ripened stems with plastic wrap. This will ensure that your less-ripened bananas are protected from the gasses being released from the browning ones.
Method 3: Preserving Sliced Bananas
Anyone who has made a fruit salad likely knows about this trick, but just in case you’ve missed out, here is the secret: acid!
Tossing your banana slices in a bit of acid (like lemon juice or vinegar) will prevent ripening by preventing the enzymatic breakdown of the fruit. For the best preservation, make sure that the cut ends of the slices are completely covered.
Don’t go overboard, however, as wilgubeast reminds us, “A dab’ll do ya.”
With these 3 methods, you are guaranteed to have fresher, tastier, and longer-lasting bananas.
Thanks, wilgubeast!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
