Most people tend to store their bananas in a fruit bowl or amongst other things on their kitchen worktop. By the end of the week, after the bananas have started to ripen, the skins can then turn completely brown.
Kitchen Tips Online, a YouTube channel, shared a quick and easy way to ensure your bananas don’t go bad too soon. The video advises viewers on the best way to store your bananas to maintain their yellow colour and softness 15 days after purchase.
As part of an experiment, the YouTube channel presenter, Mike, bought two different bunches of bananas from the same supermarket, off of the exact same shelf.
After, he took them home, stored one out as usual on the kitchen counter, and the other in an airtight container on his counter, and the results were impressive.
The presenter shared that bananas produce ethylene gas as they ripen, primarily in the stem, which travels throughout the rest of the fruit, helping it ripen.
A method to help prevent this is a simple clingfilm technique, where you wrap the stem of a bunch of bananas with clingfilm to delay the ripening process.
However, Mike advised that it’s actually far more effective to wrap stems of individual bananas, as opposed to the bunch. Doing it this way allows for fewer places for the ethylene gas to leak out of as the stems are covered better.
But in his own experiment, Mike decided to opt for a different technique – placing ethylene absorption balls inside of the airtight container. He examined the two different bunches of bananas each day to carefully watch the ripening process.
According to his observations, it took five or six days to notice any visible signs of change to the bananas. 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.”
The YouTube content creator explained that by storing bananas in the fridge once they’ve begun to ripen, it helps the banana to “slow down” the ripening process from the inside, although the outside will carry on ripening and “get quite dark”.
For 10 whole days into his amateur experiment, Mike discovered that the bananas stored in the fridge were very soft and good to use to make banana bread. So, how did this compare to the bunch stored in the airtight container with ethylene absorption balls?
He said: “On day 12 we still had a little bit of green on the bananas. On 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.”
Viewers took to the comments to share their own experiences using this storage hack. A user praised the idea, writing: “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.”