Banana storage

JayStu

Does anyone know the best way to store bananas. I bought some bananas on thurdsday that were almost yellow and today they and pretty much black. It is pretty frustrating if I can only get 4 days before they start to go black. Thanks for any help.

daniellemm1

bump because I was about to post the same question.

megan1869

Heck if I know! All I know is that since moving from Indiana to Florida ALL of my produce spoils at a ridiculous rate! I would say that produce lasts about 1/2 as long here!.... I'd love to know this answer!

xbted

If you want to retard ripening, then put them in the fridge. If you want to accelerate ripening, put them in a paper bag. Bananas ripen more quickly in the presence of nitrous oxide which they produce in small quantities- warmer spaces accelerate the production of NO2, and confined spaces accelerate NO2 uptake, thus the bananas ripen faster. Sorry kids, I'm a chemistry teacher. Anyhoo, if you want them to ripen slower, put them in the fridge but NOT in a bag. What I would do- buy green ones, keep them in a fridge, and put them in a paper bag (on the kitchen table at room temperature, not in the fridge) overnight or over two days to ripen them. This is what the fruit wholesalers do anyway. Then you always have perfectly ripened bananas!!!

JayStu

Thanks xbted

daniellemm1

Thanks I will do that!!!

Project9

Does anyone know the best way to store bananas. I bought some bananas on thurdsday that were almost yellow and today they and pretty much black. It is pretty frustrating if I can only get 4 days before they start to go black. Thanks for any help.

When they seem ready, peel them and freeze them. When you feel like a milk shake, get a blender add some milk* and some protein power. get the consistency nice and think with more frozen bananas and when you drink it, it's nice and creamy and thick just like a milk shake without all the fat of a commercial milkshake. For less carbs freeze blueberries or strawberries and make a shake, it's all yummy.

*soy milk, almond milk, dairy milk...works with any of them.

__Di__

Does anyone know the best way to store bananas. I bought some bananas on thurdsday that were almost yellow and today they and pretty much black. It is pretty frustrating if I can only get 4 days before they start to go black. Thanks for any help.

Store them in the fridge and they do not ripen off any more than they already have, remove them as you need them.

I once bought some bananas and put them in the fridge, but they were green just going onto yellow....... I kept opening the fridge as the days went by, nope still not ripe, shut the door etc etc. I took one out and left it by accident on the kitchen worktop, forgot about it, went off to work and when I came back, it had gone yellow and was ripe.

Bananas like the sun too, don't leave them in the sunlight if you don't want them any riper.

ecdce

I don't know if it's true, but I've also heard that they ripen faster when they're touching each other (ie, if you leave them in a bunch), so you should separate them all if you're just leaving them on a counter or table or whatever.

I have no idea if this is true or not. In my house I think we all sort of avoid eating the bananas too quickly in the hopes of banana bread or muffins

JulesAlloggio

I usually leave mine out till they start getting soft..then throw them in the fridge. But we go through bananas like crazy in our house so they never last long.

MB_Positif

I buy them when they are still light green. I eat them when they are just barely yellow and up until they start to get spots. If there are still any left I make banana bread, put them in pancakes or smoothies.

bumblebums

If you want to retard ripening, then put them in the fridge. If you want to accelerate ripening, put them in a paper bag. Bananas ripen more quickly in the presence of nitrous oxide which they produce in small quantities- warmer spaces accelerate the production of NO2, and confined spaces accelerate NO2 uptake, thus the bananas ripen faster. Sorry kids, I'm a chemistry teacher. Anyhoo, if you want them to ripen slower, put them in the fridge but NOT in a bag. What I would do- buy green ones, keep them in a fridge, and put them in a paper bag (on the kitchen table at room temperature, not in the fridge) overnight or over two days to ripen them. This is what the fruit wholesalers do anyway. Then you always have perfectly ripened bananas!!!

Xbted's post is da bomb, pretty much. I only have one suggestion to add, and that is to pay attention to how bananas fare when you buy them in different places. Produce quality varies widely in my neighborhood--bananas from some grocery stores seem to go from green to rotten without passing a yellow stage, whereas other stores' bananas stay fresh for a while. It has to do with how they store them. I'll pay a little extra to buy my bananas from Whole Foods because I don't end up throwing them away.

unoriginalusername007

My bananas always ripen too fast, too! I try to find a large fairly ripe bunch at the store and break the bunch in half, giving me about 3 ripe bananas. Then I do the same thing with under-ripe banas; find a green bunch, break it in half, and grab the 3 under-ripe bananas. So I check out having 3 ripe banas and 3 under-ripe. This way you don't check out with 6 ripe, and only get to eat 3 of them before the other ones rot on you! Oh, I also heard that a chemical that apples gives off makes banas ripen faster, so if you're keeping your banas in a fruit bowl with apples, you might want to think twice about that.

:happy:

QueenWino

Funny timing. I complained this morning about the beautiful yellow bananas I'd bought the day before that were now browning. Thanks for the fridge to bag on table comment!