Extend the life of your bananas with smart storage tips
Do the bananas in your home quickly turn black and lose their freshness before you can eat them? Check out the storage mistakes that cause the fruit to lose its yellow lustre and learn proven ways to extend its shelf life.
Bananas are fruits that ripen quickly, and their ageing process can significantly accelerate due to certain conditions.
Why do bananas turn black?
The main reason for bananas turning black is the action of ethylene — a gas that fruits emit during ripening. Ethylene intensifies the breakdown of chlorophyll, leading to a change in the skin colour from yellow to brown or black. Bananas are particularly sensitive to this process, especially when stored in a warm and humid environment.
Storage mistakes can additionally accelerate this process. Keeping bananas in the company of other fruits, such as apples emitting ethylene, causes faster ripening. Additionally, putting bananas in the refrigerator speeds up the blackening of the skin, though the inside of the fruit may stay fresh longer. It is these subtle differences in storage conditions that determine how quickly bananas lose their attractive yellow colour.
How to properly store bananas?
It’s worth avoiding a few common mistakes to keep bananas fresh longer. One of the most frequent is storing them with apples or other fruits that produce ethylene. This combination causes bananas to ripen rapidly and quickly turn black. Instead, keep bananas away from other fruits, ideally in a dry and cool place, but not in the refrigerator if you want to avoid darkening the skin.
If you're interested in clever methods to prolong the freshness of bananas, pay attention to how they are stored. One simple trick is wrapping the ends of the bananas with plastic wrap — exactly where the fruits connect in a bunch. This method limits ethylene emission and slows down the ripening process. Additionally, you can hang bananas on a special stand, which prevents them from deforming and minimizes the risk of skin damage that also accelerates darkening. With these few simple steps, bananas will remain fresh and appetizing for longer.
