Housewives often face the problem of preserving the marketable appearance of fruits and vegetables at home. Most of the difficulties are caused by exotics, which have become frequent guests on Russian shelves. After lying for a short time, they begin to spoil quickly. How to properly store bananas at home, not to let them lose their appetizing appearance and useful properties?
How to store bananas so they don’t turn black
In tropical countries they are harvested green. This is done so that people from different latitudes of the globe could enjoy these foreign curiosities. They are good for 35 days. Most of this time the product spends on the road, and there is no problem how to store bananas, so they do not turn black during transit. They come to us in cool and humid holds, where the temperature is no higher than 15 degrees Celsius.
The guests from the tropics arrive at the warehouses unripe. Here they undergo a forced ripening process. The chambers where they are stored are filled with ethylene. Most fruits secrete this gas in nature as well; being in cool, humid conditions slows down its natural production. After purchase, the challenge for the buyer is how to store bananas so they don’t turn black.
There are nuances of choice to help with the problem of how to properly store bananas at home.
- A housewife’s tip: they store better with intact peels, no cracks, spots or bruises.
- To avoid dents, don’t drop them; in a grocery bag, stack the bundle on top.
- Choose bunches with greenish tails. Bright yellow berries (botanically speaking, a banana is a berry) spoil quickly. It is advisable to consume them immediately after purchase.
Want to enjoy the extraordinary flavor and aroma of the juicy pulp? Simple tips on how to properly store bananas at home will help.
- Buy them green, store them in a warm place. In three or four days they will be ripe, and you can enjoy them to the full.
- Once the fruits are ripe, store them in a cool place.
- If possible, take them to the cellar and hang them up. At 19 degrees they retain their appearance and taste for a long time.
- If you need the green fruits to ripen within a day, put them in a dark paper bag with an apple.
Where to store bananas so they don’t turn black
Few people know how to properly store bananas at home.
- They don’t like bright sunlight. Don’t put them on a windowsill. The peel will quickly darken and take on an unpleasant sour taste, and the pulp will become stringy.
- Don’t put them in the refrigerator-it can provoke rapid darkening. Surprisingly, the pulp will remain light, soft and tender.
Let’s figure out where to store bananas so they don’t turn black:
- By wrapping the tail of each one in plastic wrap, you can extend the freshness for at least a few days. You can do the same with a whole bunch. Wrap the ends of the bunch in cling film and tie a string to them. Hang the bunch in a cool, well-ventilated place.
- Do not store them in the vicinity of other fruits. The ethylene they emit leads to a darkening of the rind.
- The plastic bag is the enemy of any fresh herbs. Cellophane is equivalent to a gas chamber. The concentration of ethylene in a small enclosed space is destructive to plant cells.
By sticking to tips on how to properly store bananas so they don’t turn black, you don’t have to worry about throwing them out. Many people are repulsed by the unaesthetic brown spots on the rind. And if handled improperly, it can turn black completely.
How to properly store bananas at home
Or did not follow the advice on how to store bananas, so that they do not turn black and their skin is darkened, put the berries in the refrigerator. Their appearance will not change from this, but you will be able to save the pulp. The ethylene that caused the blackening of the outer shell continues to be released, and at low temperature its effect is minimal.
If the rind has turned completely black and the pulp has turned to mush, don’t rush to throw the fruit away. That doesn’t mean it’s not good enough. It is not spoiled, but simply overripe. Many people like to eat such a sugary sweet product.
Whip it into a puree. Use the pulp to make pies, banana bread, smoothies, sorbets, muffins, and cookies. Freeze the puree in a container for ice in the heat. The cubes can be added to smoothies or juice, creating unusual fruit mixes.
If you follow the principles of a healthy diet, you should eat food freshly prepared, and fruits and vegetables should not be bought in advance. When food is stored, its useful properties are lost. Buy as much fruit as you can consume at once. Then the question of how to properly store bananas at home will lose relevance.