That’s bananas!
Americans each eat about 26.6 kilos of bananas a yr on average — and collectively discard 5 billion past-their-prime bananas through the same period, statistics show.
Now, experts are sharing the way to keep the favored yellow fruit brisker for longer.
“I’ve got 4 bananas here and I’m trying out 4 different storage methods,” the product testing TikTok account @tipperk posted in November.
One banana was placed in a bowl on a counter. The tip of a second banana, meanwhile, was covered in plastic. A wet paper towel was wrapped across the stem of a 3rd banana.
The second and third bananas were put within the bowl with the primary one. A fourth banana went right into a fridge.
And the highest banana was … any of those placed on the counter.
“The one left on the counter continues to be in good condition,” the TikToker explained in a follow-up clip. “The second, with the tip wrapped in plastic wrap, also looks pretty good. The third banana, wrapped in a wet paper towel, has held up just in addition to the primary two.”
Less a-peel-ing was the fridge-stored banana: “Suprisingly, the banana stored within the fridge developed dark spots and ripened faster,” the TikToker noted.
Real Easy says bananas can last on a countertop from two to 6 days. To scale back the danger of bananas bruising one another, the outlet recommends hanging them on a hook as a substitute of bunching them in a bowl.
Also, keep them out of sunlight because raising the temperature of the fruit causes it to ripen quicker.
Wrapping banana stems in plastic keeps them fresh and yellow longer, Real Easy advises.
“Wrap a small amount of cling film around the tip where they are sometimes joined together,” Gary Ellis, director at CE Safety Limited, a UK-based health and safety organization, told Express in 2022.
“This may keep them brisker for longer because it traps the ethylene gas at the highest of the fruit, where it emits from, slightly than letting it spread and exposing the opposite bananas to the gas,” he explained.
Like other fruits, bananas produce a plant hormone generally known as ethylene, which is a colorless, odorless gas.
Ethylene is vital within the ripening process — high levels cause bananas to melt and switch from green to yellow to brown.
That’s why it’s necessary to store bananas away from other ethylene-releasing fruit, reminiscent of apples, pears, and peaches.
Also avoid placing bananas in enclosed spaces — reminiscent of in a plastic bag or a refrigerator drawer — because they’ll trap ethylene and speed up ripening.
Some claim that wrapping the stem of bananas with a wet paper towel will reduce the quantity of ethylene they emit.
As for keeping bananas in a refrigerator, the US Department of Agriculture recommends storing them at 56 to 58 degrees Fahrenheit, which is around room temperature.
Bananas might be refrigerated once they’ve achieved your required level of ripeness — chilling them too soon may cause discoloration or a bitter flavor, the USDA warns.
“Bananas might be stored on a kitchen counter until they’re ripe, after which they might be stored within the refrigerator for at the least two days more or until the skin becomes black,” Tamika Sims, senior director of food technology communications on the International Food Information Council, told MarthaStewart.com in 2022.
And for those who waited too long to eat your bananas, don’t go bananas.
Use them for banana bread as a substitute.
