About those bananas...never have an over ripe banana again!

Got bananas? Tired of overripe bananas taking over your fruit bowl? Not sure if you can eat another loaf of banana bread? Well, then I have a kitchen tip for you! But fair warning, some of these bananas are not the prettiest you will see...

When you have too many overripe bananas, something must be done...

More than once I have complained commented about the seemingly ongoing plethora of overripe bananas that seem to magically appear in my kitchen. I may have also stated that I am somewhat of a fussy banana eater preferring my bananas just past the green tip stage, but not at the very sweet and soft fruit stage. And short of going to the store each day for a ripe banana to enjoy for my breakfast, I was growing impatient with the whole banana boondoggle! 

But just so you know, through the years I have tried many other banana tricks to keep them from over-ripening. Such as wrapping the stem end in plastic wrap, which may or may not help. I felt it was a waste of time and plastic wrap, I may have gotten one extra day of a firm banana out of the whole trick. And then there was the suggestion that you separate each banana from one another because they will ripen slower as a single banana versus a bunch of bananas with a shared stem. But honestly, I think that single bananas are much like single people, not much different from one to the other! Yep, I got overripe bananas from each of these two techniques. 

But now what?

Treat bananas like avocados!

Well as it turns out, we had the same problem with avocados. Now I have to admit avocados are actually much more temperamental than bananas. We would have hard rocks in the shape of avocados and almost as fast as instant pudding, we would have mushy brown avocados that no one wanted to eat the next day.  But then I read a kitchen tip from a lady who said, 

 "I bring avocados home from the market, let them set out for a day or so, then into the refrigerator they go. I will take one out and let it mellow for another day and then I eat it." 

And we have been using this tip ever since and it works great! Which got me thinking, why wouldn't that work with bananas? And that was the start of my banana experiment! I will tell you right now, that the cold temperature of the refrigerator darkens the outside of the peel, so these are not pretty bananas, but they are not overripe either! 

This is how my experiment unfolded. Come and take a look!

Into the refrigerator 03.19.2022.

I bought a bunch of bananas. Let them sit a day or two at room temperature, when they were just slightly green-tipped, I pulled them apart and put them in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. 

Removed from the refrigerator 03.22.2022.

These look fine, removed after dinner for the next morning. 

 

The next morning there are more brown color spots on the outside of the peel. Bananas with this much color and kept at room temperature would be overripe. But these were not! Firm and sweet. 

Removed from the refrigerator 03.25.2022.

A bit darker all over, but they still feel firm to the touch. The next morning, the color change was dramatic. At this point, the bananas have been refrigerated for a week. 

Later that afternoon I enjoy this firm, ripe but not soft banana. We had run to Costco that morning to stock up and yes, another batch of bananas!

That is the last refrigerated banana from the original batch used for this documented process. This banana was at room temperature for 2 days before being eaten. 

Removed from the refrigerator 03.25.2022 eaten 03.27.2022.

Not pretty by any standard, but still firm, sweet, and more important, not overripe! 

I did learn that the extra day out of the fridge most likely added an extra amount of softness to the enjoyment of the banana. Nothing I could not live with even with my highly opinionated banana ways! But I will take out a banana at dinner the evening before for the next morning so each is out of the refrigerator for a short period of time before being eaten.  

I think I have a new way to keep bananas! And it works so well, the batch of bananas shown above has convinced me this was one of the best experiments with food yet! 

Because I like my bananas at room temperature, I pull a banana out of the refrigerator after dinner for breakfast the next day. For those that enjoy their fruit cold, all you have to do is grab one and enjoy. And of course for your lunchtime meal, pull out when you pack your lunch or in the morning, for later that day. But here recently I found that a quick 10 to 13 seconds in the microwave will warm the cold banana to a nice "chilled" temperature. 

This post is being offered as part of the April 2022 Blog every day, Ultimate Blogging Challenge. 

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