Keep Your Bananas From Turning Brown With One Easy Trick
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Fans of bananas know all too well that they can ripen pretty quickly. Depending on how green they were when picked, it can happen as soon as one to five days if they're left on the counter. Rapid ripening may be great for green bananas, but it can leave you in a pinch to eat them before they rot. However, there's a handy kitchen hack that can help them last a bit longer.
The next time you buy a banana bunch, wrap the whole stem cluster in layers of plastic wrap. You can also break the bunch apart and individually wrap the stems, although this requires more effort and plastic wrap. For best results, store the bananas at a slightly chilly room temperature, between 60-68 degrees Fahrenheit.
The reason this trick should help bananas last longer is that the plastic wrap limits the release of ethylene gas, which bananas naturally emit to trigger the enzymatic reactions that turn starches into sugars, ripening the fruit. Trapping more of this gas under wraps should slow this process.
Other ways to ensure a perfectly ripe banana
When Daily Meal tested a range of banana ripening processes, including this one, we were concerned about the amount of plastic wrap it took to cover the stems; this is especially true if the bananas are wrapped individually. A similar hack to keep fruits and vegetables fresh calls for aluminum foil on the stems instead of plastic wrap, along with a bit of lemon juice to slow the oxidation process.
For an alternative method that uses less plastic, you can try wrapping the stems in reusable beeswax kitchen wraps, such as Bee's Wrap. It may not be as form-fitting as plastic wrap or aluminum foil, but using a rubber band can help keep the wrap in position. It should perform the same role of trapping ethylene gas, without any plastic.
You know that you can use various wrappings to control the banana ripening process, but did you know that you can also ripen them on demand? Use an air fryer to ripen green bananas by preheating it to 355 degrees Fahrenheit and cooking for about 6 minutes, depending on the desired level of ripeness. Heat is known to encourage fruit ripening, but the compact, dry-heating power of an air fryer means it can be done in just a few minutes.