The weather has a lot to do with how quick bananas ripen. Low temperatures during the cooler months reduces the metabolism in fruit and it will take longer to ripen. In the summer months fruit ripens at a faster rate. Fruit such as bananas ripen naturally through the production of ethylene gas and you can speed up the process of ripening by increasing the amount of ethylene gas and slow down ripening by decreasing it.
Here are some tips to get the most out of your organic bananas.
- To bunch or not to bunch: By keeping the bunch of bananas together, your bananas will ripen quicker. Separating bananas from the bunch slows down the ripening process.
- Use a paper bag: When green bananas are covered, they ripen faster than those exposed to room temperature. By enclosing the bananas you increase ethylene production. An easy way to do this is to place your bananas in a brown paper bag and loosely fold over the top. Keep the bag in dark warm spot. If you have other ripe fruit, like a ripe banana, apples or avocados, place them in the bag as well. The ethylene gas will circulate and ripen your fruit within a day or two.
- The perfect warm spot for your bananas: Try placing your bananas next to a heater, or your fire place, even the top of your water heater or on top of the refrigerator and they'll ripen even faster. Direct sunlight can be a little too harsh and burn the bananas.
- Slow down the ripening of your bananas: Because humidity and temperatures are the significant variables that affect the ripening of green bananas, if you want to slow ripening down, keep your bananas in a cool place and keep them away from other fruit to reduce their exposure to ethylene.
