Do bananas ripen fruit and vegetables faster?
There is no denying it: autumn has really begun. Time to harvest our last garden vegetables and cut off the herbs so they can go into the freezer before the first frost. But what do you do with peppers that are not ripe yet? We consulted our customers and received all sorts of tips that we have put to the test ourselves!
Our 3 test methods:
1. Place the peppers on a tray in a warm/sunny place.
2. Store the peppers in a fruit bowl with bananas and apples in a warm place (out of direct sunlight).
3. Put the peppers in a box with newspaper to keep them out of the light, but in a warm place.
The results:
- With the first two methods, we saw a clear difference in colour after three days. The peppers that were in the fruit basket together with the bananas and apples clearly had an advantage. However, the peppers that were simply placed on a tray in a warm/sunny spot also had a nice orange glow.
- After two days, however, we saw no difference with the third method. Then we added some tomatoes and a banana to the box. This was also to no avail, because after three days, the peppers looked just as green as when they entered the box. zagen er na drie dagen net zo groen uit als toen ze de doos ingingen.
Tip from Marcel
Bananas arrive in Belgium green? They are then sprayed with ethylene so that they ripen quickly and turn a yellow colour. The ethylene then sticks to the skin so that even unripe bananas will give off ethylene gas to the other fruit in the bowl.
Do you have a banana or an apple at home? Fine, then you can accompany your peppers with these and they will ripen faster. But with a little patience and a warm spot in your home, you'll go a long way! So you certainly don't need to buy any special ones.
But how come bananas and apples boost the ripening process? We could write a long and scientifically-based article about this, but we will keep it short and clear:
Apples, bananas but also tomatoes and passion fruit produce a lot of ethylene gas, also known as hydrocarbon. This substance is a hormone that is essential for many fruits and vegetables during the ripening process. This gas ensures that fruit or vegetables that are close to the ethylene-rich bananas/apples will also ripen faster. A handy trick to enjoy a juicy piece of fruit quickly, but also important to take into account if you want to keep your fruit longer! So we can conclude that fruit lying together in a fruit bowl will quickly influence each other's ripening process. Do you want to prevent this? Then you should store the different fruits and vegetables separately.
Tip from Marcel
Potatoes are just less likely to germinate when in contact with ethylene. To slow down the germination process, store potatoes and apples together in a crate!
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