Separate Bananas To Slow Down Their Ripening


A commonly-heard food tip is to separate bananas at the top to keep them from ripening quickly, but I never understood why or saw this in action. This week’s Banana Experiment proves it’s true, however: if you want to hold onto your bananas for longer, separate them at the stem.

I got the bananas in the picture above on Monday, and separated the three on the right, which are clearly still greener than the ones at left, just two days later.

Tammy’s Recipes notes that the reason bananas ripen more quickly when they aren’t separated is because they emit ethylene gas. Also, if you do want to ripen bananas more quickly, you can put them in a brown paper bag (or use rice).

Got a food hack or fruit tip for us? Post it in the comments!


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