People Are Placing Bananas In Food Storage Containers & They're Smart To Do So

Bananas are the grab-and-go fruit you can find both weekend warriors and true athletes reaching for before and after a good workout. They are also a fruit that can easily ripen faster than you can eat. Bananas are a fruit with a serious telltale sign that it has gone bad: they turn black. Bananas can go from green to yellow to brown to black in the blink of an eye. Store them on the countertop or your beloved banana hammock and witness the process firsthand. That's why if you've grown weary of tossing bananas into the trash or compost because they've become soft and mushy well before you anticipated they would, you may want to try storing them in an airtight household container.

Bananas ripen quickly thanks to ethylene gas, which, when released, causes starches and sugars to break down, transforming the color of the banana peel. But when you place individual bananas in airtight containers and store them at room temperature, it slows the ripening process. Placing this tropical fruit in a zip-top bag or container with a lid is going to keep oxygen out. Oxygen is required for ripening. Without it, ripening slows.  This means less money and food waste, which is reason enough to give this hack a try.

Daily Meal tested storage methods for bananas, and the airtight container method has a Dorian Gray effect on the fruit. While the outer peel remains just as it looked when placed into the container, the banana itself may turn slightly softer and sweeter. It also has a side benefit. Bananas tend to attract fruit flies as they ripen. In fact, chances are they've laid eggs on the peel, so you are bringing these pests home from the grocery store along with the banana bunch. However, if you wash and dry your bananas before you store them in the airtight container, you won't have to worry about them.

Placing a banana in an airtight container will also protect it from bruising or mishandling. That said, bananas tend to last anywhere from 2 to 6 days on the counter and 5 to 7 days in the fridge, if they are already ripe. Of course, if your bananas do ripen faster than you can use them, extra moist banana bread or a nice peanut butter banana smoothie are great options to squeeze every bit of life out of them.