How to Extend Shelf Life of Green Bananas

Frustration is a large bunch of green bananas that over-ripens in a few days. How do you keep green bananas from ripening more quickly than you can consume them? Although bananas at room temperature don't have a very long shelf life, there are a few things you can do to extend shelf life of ripening bananas. Here are several ways to prolong shelf life of your green bananas.

Keep green bananas out of heat. If given a choice of storage places for your green bananas, choose room temperature or slightly cooler. The top of your refrigerator would not be a good choice. For the same reason, an upper cupboard would also not be a good choice. Many people store bananas on the counter, and depending upon the location of sunny windows or room heat vents, this too, might not be a wise place. The best place to keep or store green bananas is a location out of both heat and sunlight.

Keep green bananas out of drafts and don't chill. You're not going to want to store green bananas in the refrigerator. Green bananas won't ripen further in the refrigerator. The chill halts ripening. Consequently, even if you take them out of the refrigerator to ripen more, you'll not get the ripening you are after. In addition, once you place a banana in the cold refrigerator, banana peels begin to turn an ugly color.

Keep green bananas dry. It's not a good choice to store green bananas where there's humidity or too much moisture. This ripens them quickly. Hence, storing green bananas in plastic bags where moisture builds up, causes them to ripen too quickly. The cause is ethylene gasses produced by ripening fruit.

Keep green bananas separate from other fruit. Although bananas produce plenty of ripening gas and are used to ripen unripe fruit, you'll not want to place green bananas with other fruit that might emit gasses. You'll want to keep your green bananas away from other fruit to extend the shelf life of your green bananas. Another tip is to keep the stems on to deter spoilage.

Keep green bananas separate from each other. Many people hang bananas to prevent bruising. But whether you hang your green bananas or you separate each banana from the bunch when you bring them home from the store, it's best to store green bananas not bunched or nestled. That's why storing green bananas in a fruit bowl on the table isn't your best option. All the fruit in the bowl, nestled against the green bananas, only serves to hasten ripening.

Keep fully ripe or over-ripe bananas in the refrigerator. A fully-ripe banana peeled, can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated to store for several days. Some people store ripe bananas this way for 3 days or longer.

On the other hand, if you do want your green bananas to ripen more quickly, do the opposite of these suggestions. Store your green bananas in a warm sunny location, together with other ripening fruit, and contained in a plastic or paper bag. It'll be a short amount of time--perhaps overnight--and you'll have ripe bananas.

A final tip--if your green bananas ripen faster than you can consume them, do this. Peel, cut your bananas into chunks, and wrap with plastic. Then freeze ripe bananas for as long as to 2-3 months. Frozen bananas are great for smoothies.

For longer shelf life, store green bananas out of heat, sun, and cold. Store green bananas open and separate from other fruit and each other. With these green banana storage tips, you'll get longer shelf life out of your green bananas.

Source:
Homecooking.about.com, Banana Storage