Banana has long ceased to be exotic for the inhabitants of Russia. These fruits come from Southeast Asia. They are quite healthy when consumed within reasonable limits, contain many nutrients and are freely sold in supermarkets. But let's clear up some questions.
This fruit is a valuable source of vitamins, containing a large amount of carbohydrates. Due to this, they are suitable for nutrition for athletes and just training people. A significant and important question is how to store bananas? Until ripe, the fruits are best stored at room temperature, after which they can be placed in the refrigerator for storage for no more than a week. In general, it is better not to store these ripened fruits, but to eat them immediately, since this miracle of nature is a perishable product. And the taste of a ripe fruit is not conducive to long-term storage. He wants to eat it right away. Store, perhaps, only when ripe and for culinary use in frozen form.
How to choose bananas
So, how to choose bananas? There is one rule, if you see black dots on a mature fruit, then this is the “correct” fruit that has not been processed. You should refrain from buying green and immature ones, they are clearly not ripe, solid starch without sugars, grass to taste. Obviously spoiled by rot is also not an option. Completely yellow (first grade) are not very good in taste saturation and have practically no smell. Fruits with a slightly spotty color have the best taste, such specimens are classified as second grade, and the aroma will be more pleasant. If the fruit has not been subjected to chemical or gas treatment and does not have dark spots, then it is immature. It is strictly forbidden to take bananas on which mold has appeared. This means that the rules of storage, or the rules of transportation, have been violated.
Banana storage standards
The shelf life of ripe bananas is not long. The average comfortable temperature for a person allows you to store them for no more than five days. When storing the fruit in question in the freezer, the allowable periods are no more than three months.
How to store green bananas so that they ripen
It is not always possible to find fruits with normal maturity in provincial small towns. Sometimes you have to buy green, immature ones. And here the question arises, how to store green bananas so that they ripen?
Despite the fact that unripe specimens have the same benefits as ripe ones, there is nothing to say about the taste, they need to ripen. Since the banana is a climatic fruit, it continues to ripen even after being picked. The optimum temperature should not exceed 16 degrees, the ripening time is about five days. At temperatures below 10 degrees, this fruit will no longer ripen. If it is not possible to create such conditions, then a bunch of bananas can also be stored at room temperature in a suspended state (there are even special stands for storage), preferably in the absence of sunlight. But in this case, the taste will differ for the worse compared to the first option.
Why do bananas turn black
Let's analyze the question of why bananas turn black. There are several answers to this question.
- The presence of black dots indicates maturity.
- Banana begins to turn black at low storage temperatures.
- After the disruption, the ETR1 and CTR1 genes are blocked, which leads to the release of ethylene, which leads to the production of enzymes: pectinase (destruction of the cellular structure), amylase (starch is converted into sugar), hydrolase (reduces the amount of chlorophyll, color changes occur). Banana begins to deteriorate, loses its attractive appearance.
How to store bananas so they don't turn black
We figured out the reasons for the blackening of the fruit, now we will deal with the question of what to do so that the fruit does not turn black. When exposed to a heat source, spoilage will occur, and not the ripening process. Improper storage of bananas leads to both blackness and spoilage at the same time. Completely blackened fruits are no longer suitable for human consumption.
Where is the best place to store
To avoid blackening, follow the tips below:
- do not store the fruits in the package in the refrigerator, as the shelf life is noticeably reduced, they will simply deteriorate;
- bananas in the refrigerator will not ripen;
- temperature changes contribute to blackening;
- ripe fruit is highly undesirable to store for a long time;
- do not put ripe fruits in the refrigerator - the peel begins to become stained;
- lemon juice will help keep the freshness of sliced slices or slices for no more than a day;
- it is advisable to store ripe fruits not in a bunch, but separately;
- storing ripe bananas and unripe apples together reduces the chance of blackening
Storage temperature
The optimal storage temperature for the hero of our article is the range from 14-16 degrees. In this case, blackening will not occur at such a rapid pace. Suitable humidity for storage is 85-90 percent. Direct sunlight is not allowed. According to this indicator, a cellar or basement is better. It is highly desirable that the premises have air circulation and are sufficiently ventilated. Providing these conditions will allow these tropical fruits to maintain freshness, pleasant appearance and taste. If you want to achieve faster ripening, then you should store the fruit bunch near ripe apples. Sprinkling with lemon or pineapple juice is acceptable when storing cut slices or pieces for a period of about two hours, for example, when preparing a fruit salad or while you are waiting for guests.
Can bananas be stored in the refrigerator
When asked whether it can be stored in the refrigerator, the answers are contradictory. You can answer positively in case of short-term storage, a day or two, no more. In addition, it is highly desirable to store these tropical fruits in a special compartment (the so-called zero chamber), where the average temperature is about zero degrees. In addition, it is absolutely not recommended to store already peeled and chopped fruit; during the oxidation process, blackening of the pulp will occur quickly. The blackened flesh is no longer suitable for food.
It is believed that the temperature of the refrigerator is poorly suited for storing bananas. One tip for refrigerated storage is to wrap in paper to prevent contact. But what if the fruit, placed in the refrigerator, does not darken? Most likely, you will wonder what the fruits were processed with and in what quantities?
How to store bananas in the freezer
Are bananas stored in the freezer? Yes, this is quite acceptable, although they are sold all year round in supermarkets. There are several methods. The easiest is to wrap the fruit without removing the peel in a special freezer bag and send it to the freezer, without peeling. Such an action does not make much sense. Bananas are sometimes frozen without their skins, but mostly for use in culinary dishes. At the same time, before being sent to the freezer, the banana should rest in the air for a couple of hours. After a short-term defrosting, the fruit can be used in cocktails or as part of pastries.
Frozen slices or wedges are good for making ice cream. To do this, the frozen and peeled fruit is crushed with a mixer, blender, milk is poured. Also, sometimes mashed potatoes are frozen. A little lemon juice is added to the gruel formed during whipping or grinding. You can also use pineapple juice. Then this mass is packed in cups or molds, sealed with cling film and sent to the freezer. It turns out a great filler for cereals. The shelf life should not exceed three months for storing bananas in any form in the freezer. Thus, freezing a tropical fruit is only advisable in the case of preparing culinary dishes, since bananas are always on sale in convenience stores.
Many housewives are faced with such a problem that vegetables and fruits bought in a store or on the market almost instantly lose their presentation at home. Bananas are especially difficult to store as they turn black very quickly. How to prevent this and extend their life at home, while retaining all the useful substances inside?
Features of transporting bananas for home storage
In order for the inhabitants of different latitudes of the Earth to be able to enjoy bananas, in tropical countries they are plucked while still green. The shelf life of such fruits is about 35 days, half of which they spend on the road. They are transported in dark holds at a temperature of 12 to 15 degrees above zero and high humidity. Thus, the fruits do not spoil, but they also get to the shops still green. How to store bananas further?
To do this, warehouses use special chambers for ripening vegetables and fruits. In them, bananas turn yellow and tasty in a short time. The process of fruit ripening occurs with the help of ethylene gas, which is specially launched into these chambers. The same substance is secreted by the bananas themselves. Artificial ethylene simply speeds up the ripening process so that the fruit gets to the counter faster. After that, the task of how to store bananas at home will already be before the buyers. How to extend the shelf life of fruits at home?
How to store unripe bananas?
Unripe bananas, although they contain fewer carbohydrates and are even more beneficial for the figure, contain fewer vitamins and minerals than ripe fruits. They are inferior to yellow fruits in taste and aroma.
Bananas bought green in the store can be brought to a ripe state at home. To do this, they are placed in a dark place, for example in a box, and stored at a temperature not higher than +14 degrees. After 5 days, you can eat ripe bananas. How to store fruits if such conditions cannot be created at home?
Unripe bananas can be stored directly in the kitchen, but suspended and away from fire. At room temperature, the process of their ripening will occur faster, but in terms of taste, such fruits are inferior to those that are stored cool.
How to store bananas so that they do not turn black and spoil?
You can extend ripe bananas for two days using simple tools that are available in every home. Scotch and are best suited for this. This is how they maintain the presentation of fruits at home, even if they are very yellow bananas. How to store them?
At home, the leg of each banana is wrapped with cling film, and then with tape. So the release of ethylene gas slows down, and the fruit does not overripe. The only drawback of this method is the short shelf life. After 48 hours, the bananas will begin to spoil. After that, it remains only to put them in the refrigerator or freeze. With any of these methods, the presentation of the product will be damaged, since it darkens at temperatures below 12 degrees.
Ripe bananas: how to store at home? Banana Freeze Secrets
In the event that all methods of storing bananas have already been tried, and they still remain unused, then there is one more option to extend their life without losing taste - freezing. By the way, they are used very rarely, since these are on sale all year round at an affordable price.
You can freeze bananas any way you like. In peel or without it, sliced in circles, slices or in the form of ready-made puree - the beneficial properties will remain in the fruit in any case. But the scope of use of bananas after freezing is limited. When defrosted, they become very soft. Most often, they are mashed, and then added to cocktails, used to make ice cream, added to pastries.
How to freeze bananas, how to store them in the freezer correctly? Here are some proven ways:
- Separate bananas in peel into individual packages, indicate the date of freezing and send to the freezer for a maximum of 2 months at a temperature of 18 degrees below zero. During defrosting, its peel will turn dark brown, while the fruit itself inside will be of the usual color, only very soft.
- Whole bananas without peel are stored in special freezer bags. So that they do not stick together, they are slightly frozen separately from each other. Another option for freezing a ripe banana is to wrap each fruit in plastic wrap. Now you can send them to the freezer for 3 months at a temperature of 18 degrees below zero.
- Bananas cut into rings are frozen on a baking sheet, spreading them at a short distance so that they do not stick together. After that, you can put the fruit in a bag or container, and use it if necessary.
First of all, how to store bananas depends on the degree of ripeness - whether they need to be frozen immediately or you can wait some more time. In any case, there are several options for extending their useful life, and each of them is acceptable in one case or another.
Bananas are tropical plants whose fruits have a tender mealy pulp enclosed in a dense peel. Their homeland is considered to be the islands of the Malay Archipelago, washed by the waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. It was from here that these unusual gifts of nature began their long journey around the world. Today even a child knows about the existence of bananas. They are loved for their pleasant taste and wonderful, unique aroma. But over time, the product loses its presentation and becomes unsuitable for consumption. Therefore, you need to know in advance in what conditions you need to keep bananas. How to store the product to maximize its shelf life?
Product transportation
Today, the countries of Central and South America are considered the main producers of bananas. It is here that an exotic product is cultivated on an industrial scale. Fruits are delivered to other countries of the world by special transport, which allows maintaining the initial degree of their maturity on the way. What do bananas require for this? How to store products during transportation? Such questions are of interest to companies that are engaged in the transportation of such goods. They have refrigerated vehicles in their arsenal, equipped with special refrigeration units, which make it possible to provide the necessary optimal conditions for the content of any food product. They carry bananas. How to store these fruits so that they do not lose their presentation on the way? Firstly, before shipping, these fruits must be wrapped in a special plastic film before being packed in cardboard boxes.
Depending on its type, bananas on the road can be stored from 28 to 50 days. Secondly, the air temperature inside the chamber also plays an important role. Ideally, if it is in the range from 12 to 15 degrees Celsius. Compliance with these two conditions allows the fruits to remain fresh and ripen slowly on the way.
Dosing in warehouses
Scientists claim that a banana is a dietary product that has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Firstly, it restores the amount of potassium in the body, which is lost along with other trace elements during dehydration, for example, during diarrhea. Secondly, the pectin contained in the pulp, like a sponge, absorbs the aggressive environment and brings it out. In this case, the restoration of the body occurs naturally without the use of drugs. But such properties, according to doctors, are precisely green, and not ripe, yellow fruits. True, in life, people prefer to eat still ripe fruits. But they must be brought to this stage. After all, it is green bananas that are harvested on plantations in warm countries. Their ripening takes place on the way, and then - in the warehouses of trade enterprises and wholesale bases. How are bananas in there? How to store fruits so that they gradually reach the desired ripeness? To do this, they are subjected to gassing with ethylene in special chambers. As a result of ripening, the following changes occur:
- softens the pulp of the fruit;
- the starch inside it turns into sugar;
- as a result of the destruction of chlorophyll, the green color of the peel changes to yellow.
But all this should take place at a certain temperature (without sudden changes) and with good air circulation.
Storage at home
As you know, bananas are perishable products. They should not be recruited for future use in large quantities, so that later you do not have to throw away overripe and rotten goods. To prevent this from happening, you need to know how to store bananas at home.
To do this, remember that:
- The optimum temperature for these fruits is considered to be in the range of +13 ... +14 ° C. Any sharp deviation in one direction or another will certainly lead to spoilage of the products.
- Humidity in the room should be at least 85-90 percent. Ideally, a damp basement or cellar is suitable for this.
- To store yellow bananas, it is better to wrap the leg in polyethylene. This will help to slow down the ripening process for a while.
- The room should be well ventilated so that air circulates freely inside it.
If you buy green bananas in the store, then under the conditions described, they can be stored for a long time. For quick ripening, they must first be kept for a day in a warm, humid room, and then left for 4 days at a temperature not exceeding 20 degrees. To speed up the process, you can put any other fruit (pear or apple) nearby.
The perfect place
There is an opinion that food products are best stored in the refrigerator. For bananas, a sharp temperature drop is the reason for the darkening of the peel and loss of presentation. Of course, it is better to eat a ripe fragrant fruit within 2-3 days. If this did not happen, then you need to know in advance where to store bananas. A good hostess should understand such subtleties. Knowing in advance the peculiarity of such a product, the refrigerator as a place of storage must be completely excluded. These fruits should only be stored at room temperature. In addition, the room should be well ventilated. To ensure normal access of air to the fruits, it is better to keep them in limbo.
To do this, it is better to buy a whole bunch. Another prerequisite is the lack of access to direct sunlight. This will also help to avoid unnecessary temperature changes and additional heating of the product. True, at home it is quite difficult to find a room that meets all the listed requirements. Therefore, it is better to immediately eat the purchased products or, in extreme cases, leave them until tomorrow.
So that the fruit does not turn black
Everyone knows that over time, the peel of bananas gradually darkens, acquiring a not quite presentable appearance. Such a product can no longer be served at the table.
True, this does not mean that it is completely spoiled. These fruits can be perfectly used for making various cocktails, mashed potatoes or sweet pastries. And how to store bananas so that they do not turn black? The first condition is, of course, maintaining a constant temperature. Any difference can lead to undesirable consequences. The peel will first become slightly grayish, and then it will sharply begin to darken. In addition, any plastic bags should be avoided. What happens inside such a package? Over time, condensate accumulates in it, which is released by fruits during storage. Excessive moisture has a detrimental effect on the fruit. They begin to blacken and deteriorate quickly. If you meet such bananas in the distribution network, then you can safely conclude that they were stored in the refrigerator.
The subtleties of storage
To understand exactly how to properly store bananas, you need to consider several important nuances. To begin with, it is worth noting that such fruits can be divided into three categories:
- Greens. These are unripe products that will ripen during storage.
- Yellow or ripe. They are completely ready for use, have a pleasant taste and characteristic aroma.
- Darkened or overripe. Such fruits can be recognized by black spots or a grayish tint of the peel. They cannot be considered rotten, since the pulp can still be eaten.
- It is better to hold green fruits for a while in a dark paper bag so that the ripening process proceeds gradually. Nearby you can put a fresh apple. This will significantly reduce the ripening time. After this procedure, the fruit should be put in a vase or on a dish and stored in a room in the fresh air.
- Ripe bananas are best kept in a cool place out of direct sunlight. In order to preserve their original state as much as possible, it is better to wrap the leg of each fruit with polyethylene or ordinary tape. This will slow down the ripening process and possible spoilage.
- Overripe bananas, unlike the rest, are just better to put in the refrigerator. Then the darkening of the peel will be more uniform, while the pulp will remain quite dense and tasty. Although such products should be eaten immediately or kept no more than a day.
Given all the subtleties of the storage issue, you can always have beautiful, tasty and fragrant exotic fruits on the table.
Banana is one of the most common tropical fruits on the store counter. It can replace a full snack and restore wasted energy. The tender pulp is very tasty and fragrant, adults and children like it. Connoisseurs of tropical yummy would be happy to stock up, but they don’t always know how to store bananas. A capricious fruit strives to turn black, overripe, or even deteriorate. The article describes a few tricks that will help prolong banana enjoyment at home.
Maturity
Finding the perfect bunch of bananas in the store is pretty easy. The main thing is to know for what purposes you are acquiring fruits:
- Uniformly yellow fruit with a greenish stalk inside contains sweet tender pulp without any traces of darkening, has a round cross section. It is better to eat such a fruit within the first days after purchase. But in the article we will tell you how to save bananas so that they do not turn black, and we will help prolong the pleasure of eating this valuable product.
- The fruit with a green skin and ribbed edges has a sweetish grassy taste. If properly transported and stored prior to sale, it should be able to mature naturally in your home within a few days. This is convenient for preparing a holiday or creating a small stock.
- If the banana peel is covered with a small amount of dark spots, the inside will be incredibly sweet, honey-colored flesh with a rich aroma. But only after a few hours under room conditions, it will begin to darken and turn into gruel. Such fruits should be eaten immediately or used for cooking various dishes.
Tip of the day
If the greenish or yellow peel has a dull gray tint, don't buy it. Such a fruit was stored in violation of the temperature regime and will not be able to ripen, and inside there will be a tasteless pulp.
How to avoid blackening of ripe fruits
If you are concerned not only with the taste of the pulp, but also with the aesthetic appearance, it is important to know how to store bananas so that they do not turn black at home. But first, let's figure out what causes the darkening of the peel.
Cause of blackening of the skin
The delicate skin of a tropical fruit performs a protective function. The blackening is caused by the breakdown of the polyphenol oxidase enzyme. This process occurs as a result of a decrease in the temperature background below 10 ˚C. Cell membranes are destroyed faster, which leads to an acceleration of the reaction.
If you take such a fruit out of the refrigerator, the destruction process will accelerate. That is why you can not store bananas in the refrigerator, but the pulp will not suffer at all with this method.
Conditions and shelf life of the fruit
Optimal storage conditions for bananas at home:
- temperature 15-18 ˚C;
- humidity 60-80%.
According to GOST, tropical fruits should be stored in a warehouse at a temperature background of 13-14 ˚C and air humidity of at least 85%. An exotic crop is first treated with a nitrogen-ethylene mixture containing 5% ethylene. Gas accelerates the process of turning starch into sugars, spurs maturation. After that, fruit boxes are delivered to retail outlets.
For better preservation, the fruits can be treated with phenol, which is harmful to health, so store-bought bananas should be thoroughly washed before consumption.
Do you know that…
If the fruit bought in the store in the morning looked like coal, it was “frozen” in the warehouse, that is, it was stored in violation of the temperature regime.
Where to store ripe bananas?
The answer to the question of where to store ripe bananas depends on the goals pursued by the hostess. To speed up the ripening process of fruits, room temperature is acceptable. If you plan to delay this process as much as possible, use a cool dark place - a pantry, a basement. A few simple tips will help you maintain the beautiful appearance and taste of the pulp:
- When you arrive home, remove the purchased fruits from the plastic bag. This material contributes to the accumulation of condensate, which will lead to rapid spoilage and rotting of fruits.
- Place the fruit in a wooden bowl, paper bag, or use a grape stand.
- Store specimens with a greenish stem away from heat sources and direct sunlight.
- To avoid quick skin blackening, hang the bunch in a cool, well-ventilated basement or close it in a dark closet where the temperature does not rise above 15˚C.
- Ripe fruits release ethylene, which accelerates the ripening of the "neighbors". Unripe fruits, on the contrary, intensively absorb the released gas. If you put ripe bananas and unripe or avocados in a paper bag, you can delay the appearance of dark spots by 1-1.5 days. This will make the apples ripen faster.
- You can limit the intake of ethylene with a simple trick. Wrap the leg of each banana or the entire bunch with cling film, foil, and secure with tape on top. When picking fruits from the brush, do not forget to rewind the common stem again.
Tip of the day
When purchasing a tropical fruit, pay attention to the integrity of the peel. Pathogenic microorganisms can penetrate inside the damaged skin, which will affect your health.
Refrigerator - friend or foe?
Can bananas be stored in the refrigerator? Of course, if their skin has already begun to become covered with dark spots. The refrigerator compartment will slow down the circulation of ethylene, which will preserve the density and sweet taste of the pulp. When the beautiful appearance of an exotic fruit can no longer be saved, it is advisable to move it to the refrigerator. This will keep the fruit from overripening too quickly.
- Put it in a paper bag, but don't put it on the shelf next to ripe fruit.
- To save space, it is best to separate each banana from the common base and wrap the stem as described above.
In this form, the density of the pulp will remain for another 7-10 days.
Bananas can be dried in the oven by cutting them into pieces. Dried, they will keep for up to a year.
Freezer storage
You can freeze bananas, which will extend the shelf life up to 2-3 months. After defrosting, the pulp will certainly turn into gruel, but will not lose its taste and useful qualities. Useful for making cocktails, pastries, sweet sauces, additives to cheese masses and cereals.
Freeze bananas like this:
- Pre-wash the fruit, free from the skin and adjacent fibers.
- For storage, lay whole fruits or chop them with a knife, turn them into puree with a blender.
- Place the prepared product in plastic food containers, a plastic bag with a zipper.
- The packaging must be sealed.
- The optimum temperature is not higher than minus 18 ˚C.
- Defrost at room temperature.
Note to the owner
You can not defrost the fragrant pulp, but eat it as a healthy banana ice cream.
Ripening green fruits at home
How to make green bananas ripen at home? As easy as pie:
- Leave them on the kitchen table for 3-5 days.
- Already ripe fruits placed in one paper bag with green bananas will help speed up the process.
- It is best to use a special hanger or stand, then the fruit will ripen evenly.
How to store peeled bananas
Don't know where to put banana slices after the holiday?
For a short time, lemon or lemon will help to prolong its freshness, which should be sprinkled with slices. The acid will slow down the browning, but it will not protect against quick spoilage. Therefore, freezing is the best way to store fruit slices.
What to cook with overripe fruit
Overripe bananas have loose sweet pulp and are not suitable for cutting, fruit salads. Throwing away such a product is a waste. Even overripe fruits are suitable for culinary purposes.
In countries where bananas are the basis of nutrition, they are baked, fried, canned, served as a side dish for fish, sauces and honey are made from them.
Just 2-3 bananas will transform the taste of your favorite dishes. Smoothies and cocktails are better to drink immediately, and pastries can lie for several days, although your favorite sweet tooth will eat them faster.
Knowing how to properly store bananas at home, you can make small stocks of healthy fragrant fruits. Even excess of this product can be properly preserved by freezing or processing.
Store properly and be healthy!
Have you read the article? Please give feedback:
- Rate the article and share with your friends on social networks if it was useful and you learned something new.
- Supplement the material by writing a comment if you have your own experience in storage or disagree with something.
- Ask a question to our specialist by clicking the button below and get a qualified answer if you did not find it in the text.
Thank you in advance! It is important for us to understand that we are not working in vain.
Banana fruits are harvested on plantations exclusively in a green, unripe state. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, only such bananas can be stored for about 40 days and transported without damage and blackening of their peel. Secondly, bananas that have already gained sweetness and are still on the tree are prone to rodent attacks. And thirdly, bananas ripened on the plantation do not have the same aroma and taste as bananas picked green and ripened separately from the mother plant.
Green fruits delivered from place to place of sale to the final consumer undergo a special ripening process. Bananas are placed in ripening chambers, where they are stored for several days under the influence of ethylene gas. The degree of fruit ripening depends on the concentration of the reagent and the period of storage in the chamber. Moreover, bananas subject to an accelerated ripening process have a less pronounced aroma and reduced taste.
The fruits of bright yellow bananas without green hues and veins have a pleasant taste and excellent aroma. Bananas of an indistinct dark yellow hue did not ripen properly and therefore tasteless. If the bananas have black spots, this is a sign that they are at the end of their shelf life. Such fruits are quite edible, and many people believe that it is the darkening bananas that have the best qualities.
How to store bananas at home so that they do not turn black.
If there is no alternative, then you can buy green bananas. It is not worth eating them in this state - a distinct taste of grass is guaranteed. If you store green bananas at room temperature, then after 2-3 days they will acquire the desired readiness. Bananas should be stored in an open form without the use of bags, otherwise they may be prone to rapid decay.
Storage in the refrigerator is contraindicated for bananas; after cooling, the peel immediately turns black and bitterness may appear in the pulp. Ripe, yellow, fragrant bananas should be eaten immediately. If you leave ripe bananas for storage, then according to statistics, some of them will be spoiled and thrown away. Buy bananas for 1-2 days no more. Turns out,
