When you buy bananas, break them apart into individual bananas instead of leaving them in the bunch.
Why YSK: The stem of the bunch is the main culprit for releasing ethylene gas, which is basically a ripening accelerator. By separating them, you significantly slow down this process. This means your bananas will stay yellow and edible for far longer, saving you from having to eat a dozen bananas in two days or, more likely, throwing them out. No more premature browning, unless you’re specifically aiming for banana bread. Your fruit bowl (and wallet) will thank you.
I heard the opposite, that separating them ripens them quicker. In my experience this appears to be true.
Damnit Melon, you could have posted this the other week!
can you post a picture of what the single banana looks like? how much stem do you leave on each one? nothing? so the tip of the edible fruit is showing?
I’m curious but kind of skeptical tbh
Yeah, wouldn’t the increased surface area increase the release of gas making everything ripen faster?
The breakage may cause a loss of moisture and cause a reduction in the amount of stem with enough moisture to produce gas?
Who keeps bananas longer than a week? I mean in our household if we buy 10 on Saturday they’ll be one left by the following Friday… 😋
I do because I mean to make chocolate chip banana bread, they get ripe, I turn away, oh FUCK they’re bad lmfao.
Put them in the fridge and they’ll last for weeks. They might turn brown after a few days but inside they’ll be fine. Put them in an airtight container and they’ll last even longer in the fridge.
Even better: Freeze them!!! Seriously, it tastes like banana ice cream. It’s delicious!
Or, ya know, you can just wrap some cellophane around the bunch of stems, and wrap that with a rubber band for extra measure.
Anyways, side note, if you eat a banana (mmm tasty), well mosquitoes will be more attracted to you…
One of the chemicals that gives bananas their smell is also released when a honey bee stings you, signaling other bees to attack.
Interesting, today I learned a thing 👍
I have type-o blood. I’m already irresistible to mosquitoes, and I’m embarrassed at how long it took me to realize my wife was counting on this when we walked in the woods.
Look just a little further into the comments, I dug up a couple relevant links.
Apparently beer is also on the skeeter menu… ☹️
Looks around at my type O blood, regular (but moderated) beer intake, and love for bananas
We’ll I’ll be damned.
Wait… what!?
This is new to me, any chance you have an article to help me understand the science behind this?
https://www.self.com/story/does-food-affect-mosquito-bites
Well hell, beer is on that mosquito menu too… ☹️
D’oh! Thanks for the info, now I will have to pick a different drink after mowing.
TIL
I presume you wanna cut them apart because mine usually don’t separate clean
My girlfriend breaks them apart into singles and then wraps the calyx of each banana (the place where they all were joined…I’m not sure that calyx is the correct word) with aluminum foil. I don’t know if the foil makes any difference though.
