Bananas are typically stored in fruit bowls or just left amongst other produce on kitchen worktops.
Within a few days, bananas start to ripen, and by the end of the week, the skin can turn completely brown.
To ensure bananas don’t go bad before you’ve had time to enjoy them, the YouTube channel Kitchen Tips Online shared an easy way to ensure your bananas are still yellow, and perfectly soft on day 15.
Presenter Mike from the YouTube channel bought two bunches of bananas from the same shelf in the same supermarket.
He took them home and placed one bunch on his kitchen counter, and the other inside an airtight container on his kitchen counter.
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Mike explained that as bananas ripen, they produce ethylene gas, primarily in the stem, which then spreads to the rest of the fruit to help it ripen.
One method of storing bananas is the popular clingfilm technique. Some people wrap the stem of a bunch of bananas with clingfilm to stop them from ripening.
Mike explained that it’s more effective to wrap the stems of individual bananas to prevent ripening instead of while they are all attached.
By wrapping the stem individually, there are fewer places for the ethylene gas to leak out because the stems are more fully covered.
However, the expert Mike, decided to experiment with a different technique – ethylene absorption balls.
Every day he examined the two bunches of bananas – one on the kitchen counter, and one in an airtight container with the ethylene absorption balls inside – to see the ripening process.
He noted that it was on days five and six when he started to notice a significant difference.
He said: “Day eight, I noticed the bananas not in the container were significantly softer than the ones in the container. So at that point, I decided to put those bananas in the refrigerator.”
Mike explained that putting the bananas in the fridge after they ripen on the kitchen counter allows the inside of the banana to “slow down its ripening”, but the outside “will continue to ripe and it will get quite dark”.
After about 10 days Mike found that the bananas in the fridge were so soft he decided to use them to make banana bread.
So how did the bananas in the airtight container with the ethylene absorption balls compare? Mike said: “Day 12 we still had a little bit of green on the bananas.
“Day 15 you’ll notice there’s still some green on the bananas not in the fridge in the container. When we cut it open you’ll notice there’s a little bit of bruising on the bottom, but that’s the weight of the bananas causing the bruising in the container. As you can see, these bananas are still quite edible.”
Taking to the comments section of the video, user @garyhill56 said: “I’ve been watching several videos on how to store bananas, and this is game-changing. Your video is the best hack I’ve found.”
Mike also shared a nifty hack for peeling bananas. He said: “[The] best way to peel a banana is from the bottom up the stem, not from the top”. By doing this, it “eliminates those little strings”.
