Bananas getting too ripe is a major problem in many households as some people like to eat bananas fresh. But bananas ripen too fast leaving brown marks all over the body. Keeping bananas yellow and fresh is a goal that all of us want to achieve.
It isn’t too hard to keep bananas from browning though. You just need to learn some hacks to store bananas in a way that will keep them from getting ripened fast. Correctly storing bananas play a major role in keeping bananas fresh and yellow.
So let’s learn how we can keep bananas fresh and yellow by following some easy steps.
Useful Tips To Keep Bananas From Browning:
There are many ways to store bananas for a long time which will also keep them from browning too fast. These tips will make your life a little easier and will allow you to eat fresh yellow bananas anytime you want.
1. Keep Bananas Away From Other Fruits:
As we know bananas get ripened when they come in contact with ethylene gas in the air. But the ripening process will get even more drastic if you keep bananas with the fruits which release ethylene gas when they start to ripen.
Some fruits like apples, pears, avocados, and peaches release extra ethylene in the air when they get ripened. Keeping bananas in the same bowl as these fruits will only make the ripening process of bananas faster. So it’s better to keep bananas separated from these fruits if you want to keep bananas from browning.
2. Banana Hanger To The Rescue:
One of the reasons behind your bananas getting ripen so fast might be because it’s bruised. Bruised bananas get exposed to oxygen more than the good ones that’s why they get ripened even faster. Bruised bananas rot faster than other bananas.
A Banana hanger can save your bananas from getting bruised. You can hang a bunch of bananas in a banana hanger and the hanger will do the rest of the work for you by saving your bananas from getting micro-bruises. So to avoid bananas from getting rotten, buy a banana hanger and safely store your bananas.
3. Keep Bananas Away From Your Kitchen:
The kitchen is the hottest and brightest room in your house. These two are exactly what trigger bananas to get ripened quickly. Heat and light increase the speed of the ripening process. So if you don’t want your bananas to get brown quickly, consider storing them in any dark and cool place.
Keeping bananas on the kitchen counter is the worst way of storing bananas. Be careful about choosing a place to store your bananas. The colder and darker the place is, the better it is for the bananas to stay fresh and yellow.
4. Don’t Put Bananas In A Container:
Keeping the bananas in a container helps the bananas to get rotten quickly. The container will keep the gas that bananas release stored for a long time and that is not very helpful if you want to keep your bananas fresh for a long time.
Closed storage is a piece of bad news for fresh bananas. They get eaten by their own gas and turn brown faster than before. That’s why you should avoid putting fresh bananas in a closed container or a sealed bag. Hang your bananas in the open air and make sure they don’t get bruised.
5. Wrap The Stems:
Stems are the main source of ethylene gas which causes bananas to get ripened. When bananas start to get ripened, the stems release a large amount of ethylene gas which spreads in the whole banana causing the brown marks to appear.
Wrapping the stems with plastic wrap or foil paper really helps when it comes to keeping your bananas fresh for a long time. The wrap keeps the ethylene gas contained which got released from the stem and saves the banana.
You can wrap the stems of the whole bunch together or you can separate all the bananas and wrap each of them. You won’t have to worry about bananas getting brown as the wrap will keep the bananas from browning and fresh.
6. Lemon Juice For Sliced Banana:
Do you want to add sliced bananas to your fruit salad but they keep turning brown? No worries try sprinkling a little bit of lemon juice on the banana slices after you cut them. It’ll keep them white for a long time and you’ll be able to add them to your fruit salad or your kid’s lunch box.
You don’t have to worry about ruining the taste of bananas because of lemon juice. You won’t be able to taste lemon flavor when you mix the sliced bananas in your fruit salad. But make sure you don’t sprinkle too much lemon juice on the bananas.
7. Keep The Imposter Away:
Check the banana bunch that you’ve just bought from the store if it has a rotten or over-ripen banana in it. Make sure to get that imposter banana out of the bunch or else it’ll cause the other bananas to rot fast too.
One bruised banana can bring a crisis for your whole bunch of bananas. Because that one bruise on a banana can hasten the ripening process of other bananas. You must eat the bruised banana right away or else it’ll get just worse and it will rot faster than you can imagine. And hang the rest of the bananas on a hanger to keep them safe from bruises.
8. Vinegar To Keep The Sliced Bananas Fresh:
Brown mushy bananas are the last thing you would want to add to your fruit salad. But banana slices turn into this mushy mess in the blink of an eye. You can solve this catastrophe by using vinegar as diluted vinegar helps to slow down the oxidation of fruits.
Take a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of water and mix them. After cutting the banana slices, soak them in the mixture. This’ll create an acidic barrier on the banana slices and will protect them from getting brown.
9. Choose The Green Bananas To Take Home:
If you want to eat fresh yellow bananas every day then pick the green banana bunch from the store. Then you can keep them on the kitchen counter without worrying about the banana getting over-ripened. By the time you’ll be ready to eat them, they’ll turn into perfect fresh yellow bananas.
So instead of picking a bunch of bananas that are already ripening, take a green banana bunch. They’ll last longer and won’t turn mushy or brown anytime soon. Hang them on the banana hanger or just simply put them on the countertop you don’t have to worry about it.
10. Bring Bananas Home Safely:
As we’ve learned earlier, bruising can be a major problem when you’re trying to keep your bananas fresh. That’s why you must bring bananas home from the store safely so that they don’t get bruised. Don’t put them beneath all the other vegetables and fruits in your shopping bag.
It’ll be better if you keep the bananas in a separate packet and carry that bag carefully so that they don’t get hit on the way home. Even if one single banana out of the whole bunch gets bruised, all of them will get rotten in the blink of an eye.
What Causes Bananas To Get Brown
It’s hard to keep up with bananas’ changing colors as it has a pretty colorful life cycle. The life cycle starts with the color green and then changes to a fresh bright yellow color which looks very appetizing but then it changes to an unappealing brown color pretty fast.
Now why do they turn brown? Generally, fruits start to ripen when they come in touch with an airborne hormone called ethylene. When fruit is not ripened it is usually more acidic than sugary and they’re green in color because of chlorophyll. The acid in the fruit breaks down as soon as it comes into contact with ethylene gas and the fruit becomes softer than before and the green chlorophyll pigment gets broken and replaced with another color.
Most fruits only generate a tiny amount of ethylene as they ripen; on the contrary, bananas produce a large amount of ethylene when they ripen. Bananas start to get sweetened and ripened when the ripening process begins but they get over-ripened very swiftly by producing too much of their own ethylene.
Those high amounts of ethylene cause the yellow color to dwindle into a brown splotchy. The process of bananas turning brown is called enzymatic browning. This is a natural process but you can slow it down a little bit by executing some tips.
Refrigeration To Keep Bananas From Browning:
You may assume that storing bananas in the refrigerator will solve all your problems. But in reality, it’ll only solve half of your problems. Storing bananas in the refrigerator will surely keep the fruit fresh but the peel will still turn brown.
Cooling bananas does slow down the ripening process but you’ll have to store the bananas in the refrigerator when they’re fully yellow and fresh. But when your bananas are already browning, cooling them won’t help much because it won’t turn the bananas yellow again.
The banana peels may also turn black if you keep them in the refrigerator which will make them more unappealing to eat. Being a tropical fruit, a banana really doesn’t do well in cold storage.
Is It Safe To Eat Brown Bananas?
If your bananas don’t have pesky flies flying all around them and you don’t see mold and ooze, then they’re still usable. They might not be very appetizing to look at or maybe not very tasty too but you can still use them in various ways.
When bananas get brown, the starches in bananas change into sugar and the bananas taste sweeter than they would if they were fresh. Also, the brown bananas are very soft. Because of their soft and sweet texture, you can use them in making cupcakes, bread, and healthy smoothies.
You can make banana pancakes with them and also banana tea with them or you can just add them to your oatmeal. Brown bananas are highly nutritious. Brown bananas become even tastier after baking. You can make delicious banana bread with them and you won’t even have to add extra sugar to it because brown bananas are already very sweet.
But if you want to eat a banana just as it is, like a fruit then you should try your best to keep bananas from browning so that you can enjoy sweet yellow fresh bananas.
When Is A Banana Too Brown To Eat?
If your bananas are totally covered in brown color and don’t have even a spot of yellow then it might be too rotten to eat. Other than being brown, when a banana is squishy, moldy, leaking fluid, or spreading a rotten smell, then maybe you should not try to use it anymore.
When a banana is not too brown it’ll smell sweet and will be usable. They’ll taste good and will be soft but not totally squishy. But a rotten banana will have black spots on its peel along with brown color and it’ll have a fermented smell like alcohol.
Conclusion:
Rather than throwing out bananas for being too brown, try keeping them fresh and yellow for a long time so you can avoid wasting food. Ripening is a natural process for bananas. You cannot stop it fully but you can surely try these tips above to keep bananas from browning.
Bananas are the best snacks when you want something sweet but healthy. They are the best of all tropical fruits. But their fast ripening process makes it hard for us to store them for a long time in our home and eat them every day. To solve this crisis all you have to do is, get fresh bananas from the store and follow these simple tips and you’ll be able to enjoy fresh bananas every day.
