If you do a weekly food shop, the last thing you would want is for food to go off before your next trip to the supermarket.
Not only are browned bananas not great to eat unless you are planning to bake a treat, the fruit may release fluid that causes a mess in the fruit bowl.
Mushy bananas are a no-go when it comes to adding the fruit to cereal, for example. Plus, throwing away browned bananas is such a waste of money, which is why a food storage hack is warranted.
The Kitchn reported one of the best banana storage food hacks shown to make bananas stay fresh for up to six days.
By wrapping the banana stems in foil, the release of ethylene gas is majorly slowed down meaning the fruit ripens more slowly.
It’s claimed that wrapping foil around the banana stems leads to better results than banana stems wrapped in cling film, which could shorten the lifespan of brightly coloured bananas.
After six days the banana storage hack involving the foil wrapped around the stems is said to leave “lots of unblemished yellow skin”.
This means you can enjoy a firm, tasty banana every day of the week until another big shop is needed by doing this effective food storage hack.
Alternative food storage hacks to try out include storing the bananas in a plastic produce bag and placing the bananas in a produce basket.
The plastic produce bag is said to puff out in response to the release of ethylene gas over time, but the fruit inside has “pristine sunny yellow skins” after the week is done.
The texture, however, was questionable as The Kitchn reported it had a “high level of creaminess” that may not be to everybody’s taste.
As for storing bananas using an aerated produce basket, like a metal stand, it can help the bananas to last a little bit longer than those left on the counter.
They did, however, “ripen quite a bit” leading to dark brown seeds in the middle of the fruit by the end of the six days.
If what you are after is browned bananas for baking, there are ways to quicken the ripening process rather than just waiting it out.
BBC Good Food suggested trapping the ethene gas by putting the bananas in a paper bag, which can take a day or two to ripen them.
For a quicker way to make bananas good for baking, without waiting for a couple of days, the advice is to put them in the oven for about 40 minutes at 180C.
Browned bananas are great for making banana bread, which can be a wholesome afternoon treat with a warm cup of tea.
