Who has never left their bananas lying around in the fruit basket until they blacken and become soft? Here is the right place to keep them.
Bananas, these exotic fruits with a sweet taste and soft texture, are one of the most consumed foods in the world. It is even the favorite fruit of the French, ahead of the apple this year. However, their shelf life is a real challenge and few people know how to store them. One question remains: where should they be stored to prevent them from spoiling too quickly? If your first instinct is to put them in the fruit basket or put them in the refrigerator, know that there is a much better alternative.
The first thing you need to know is that bananas are a tropical fruit, so they do best in warm temperatures. Putting them in the refrigerator is therefore a mistake, it is not the right place to store bananas, especially when they are not yet ripe. This can slow down the ripening process, but it also affects their flavor and texture. The result is that they will darken more quickly and lose their taste. The fridge can, however, be used for very ripe bananas that you want to keep for a few more days, or for an already opened banana. But this is not the ideal solution for yellow or green bananas.
The fruit basket, although the most common place to store bananas, is not always ideal either. In fact, many fruits, such as apples, pears or avocados, emit ethylene, a natural gas which accelerates the ripening of surrounding fruits. Bananas, which are particularly sensitive to ethylene, therefore tend to ripen more quickly when they share space with other fruits. This can cause brown spots to appear on their skin and make their flesh flabby in just a few days.
To maximize the life of your bananas, the ideal location is a dry, cool (but not cold) and well-ventilated place. An ambient temperature between 15 and 20°C is perfect. A banana hook or a specific support for hanging them is even better: this prevents them from being in direct contact with a surface, thus reducing the risk of bruising. Hanging bananas also limits their exposure to ethylene from other fruits.
And be careful, the black color of the banana peel does not always mean spoilage. When the skin darkens, the starch turns into sugar, making it sweeter.
Here are some additional tips for properly storing your bananas:
- If you don’t have a rack to hang them on, separate them from the diet. This helps slow the spread of ripening.
- Wrap the stems. Wrapping stem ends with plastic wrap or aluminum foil can slow the release of ethylene and therefore prolong their freshness.
- Avoid direct light. Prolonged exposure to sunlight accelerates ripening. Prefer a shaded place.