By Fahad Tariq,Katherine McPhillips
Copyright glasgowlive
Bananas are perfect to have for a light breakfast or snack, but are often one of the most wasted foods in a kitchen, as most people are storing them in the wrong place.
Mandy Applegate, an expert from Two City Vegans, has shared that bananas should be kept far away from a fruit bowl, as it cause them to quickly become brown and mushy, reports the Express.
She said: “A fruit bowl is one of the worst places to store bananas since many other fruits, like apples and peaches, also release ethylene gas. Keeping bananas away from other fruit prevents a chain reaction of over-ripening.”
Fruits like bananas, apples or peaches release a natural substance called ethylene gas, which ripens fruit so it becomes soft and flavourful enough for us to eat.
When too much ethylene gas builds up in the air it will cause fruit to speed through the ripening process and instead quickly become a rotten mess.
Bananas are sensitive to ethylene while also producing a lot of it, so to keep fruit fresh then it is best to take them out of the fruit bowl and store them separately on the kitchen worktop.
All you need to do is store bananas away from other fruit and any heat sources like an air fryer or oven, which should keep them fresh.
However, if you want bananas to last even longer, then it is best to slow down their ethylene production completely with some cling film.
Mandy said: “Wrapping the stems of bananas in plastic wrap effectively slows down the room-temperature ripening process. The stems release the ethylene gas, so covering them traps the gas.
“This simple technique can keep room-temperature bananas firm and yellow for longer. Just a small piece of plastic wrap can make all the difference in extending bananas’ shelf life.”
Bananas produce ethylene gas from their stem, so wrapping them up in cling film or tin foil will stop ethylene gas from being released into the air.
If you take bananas out of a fruit bowl, keep them away from heat and wrap up their stem then they should stay fresh up to 10 days or even 14 days longer than they normally would last.
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