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Many times, the only choices for bananas at your grocery store are bright green, hard bananas that were clearly not ripe yet when they were picked. There is an easy way to fix this! We’ll teach you how to ripen green bananas that takes minimal effort and you don’t have to spend any money on specialized kitchen tools to use this trick. This kitchen tip will also allow you to ripen other produce as well.
When you are buying unripe bananas at the grocery store, ask the cashier at checkout for a full-sized paper grocery bag. Once home, put the green bananas into the paper bag. Close the top of the paper bag and roll it down to keep it from opening back up. Keep rolling the paper bag down until you reach the bananas. The goal here is to make sure that there is as little empty space inside the paper bag as possible. You can put more than one bunch of bananas in the bag at the same time. In fact, this will even speed up the ripening process.
Why it Works
Here’s why this works: bananas (and many other fruits) give off a gas called ethylene gas. Ethylene gas is a plant hormone that causes “growth”. What this means for produce is that any fruits or vegetables exposed to ethylene gas will have accelerated ripening. You can use ethylene gas to your advantage in certain cases, by allowing it to ripen fruits and vegetables that were picked before their prime.
Produce that gives off ethylene gas itself can be enclosed in a container or bag, and essentially trapped in the gas it produces to speed up ripening. Fruits and vegetables that do not produce ethylene gas can also benefit from this method. To ripen them, simply place them in a bag or container with an ethylene gas producing fruit or vegetable, such as bananas, apples, peaches, avocados, pineapples or tomatoes.
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I’ve also heard that you can put your bananas with an apple for a day or so, and that will help ripen them.
Just stumbled this so others will be enlightened!
My question is why do bananas get spots when you take them in the car? Every time we travel we bring them for snacks and if they stay in the car for more than 12 hours they start to get gross? I drive a suburban so I can’t imagine it is the gas… too much room for it to escape….
I use this trick mostly with avocados since I can never find ripe one’s at the store!
Thanks for sharing…
Toni
I now have my very green bananas that have not been ripening after a whole week(!) in a bag, and I have high hopes.
I also wanted to point out to others in case it helps someone that bananas keep very well in the fridge for the other way around, when you don’t want ripe bananas to go off. Yes it is true that the skins go black but inside the bananas keep fresh for a long time…
As for the bananas in the car developing spots, could this be that it is a more enclosed space than the kitchen, meaning that the level of the ethylene gas will be higher, and also it is often quite warm?
i required information about the banana repining ,,,,,,,,,,please inform me …
We love this trick and have been doing this for a very long time as my two toddlers gobble down the monkey fruit! It also works to put bananas with an unripe Avocado to make it ripen faster.
If your local market has very bright green bananas you can either ripen them as the author mentioned or if you can’t wait you can boil them and eat as a side dish. You cut a slit along the banana and then boil them. When they are done you just peel them after you let them cool off or under cool water. The skin of the banana leaves a residue that may stain your fingers. Anyhow, cut the boiled peeled bananas in rounds and serve with a little olive oil, yum.
@Kat: Thanks for the tips and the recipe!
Danelle
Guineos en Escabeche (in English called “green banana salad”)
Ingredients :
2 lbs. bright green unripened bananas – about 10 green bananas (the greener the better)
1 to 1 1/2 lbs. onions sliced into thin rings
1 cup white vinegar
3 to 4 cloves crushed garlic
10 to 12 olives
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 to 12 whole black pepper corns
3 to 4 bay leaves
3 cups olive oil or light olive oil
2 quarts of water
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Directions :
Cut the banana with a knife by cutting off the ends of the bananas and making a cut alond the outside curves of the banana skins, but DO NOT remove the skins
Place the bananas in boiling water and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of oil to make them peel easier. Boil the bananas for approximately 20 minutes on medium-low heat. If you boil them too long they will come apart.
While the bananas cook, make the Escabeche sauce by placing all the rest of the ingredients into a pot. Stir them well and place on medium heat until the mixture gets hot. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for approximately 1 hour. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
The banana is done when you lightly stab it with a toothpick and it is tender but firm. Peel off the skins and cut the bananas in 1 inch size rounds and put them in a glass or “Tupperware” bowl. Add the sauce to the bananas. Stir and mix well. Cover them and let them cool off. After they cool off place them in the refrigerator for 2 hrs. Serve and eat.
Hey just wanted to say thanks for the advice. I run a warehouse for a nonprofit group that give out food to the needy Lately we have been getting in pallets of green bananas and have had some complaints from people that they couldn’t get them to ripen now i know i can rap the pallets and have them ripe when they come in. Thanks a lot, and God bless.
@Phoebe: Yes, that’s true! Putting ethylene-producing produce with any other piece of fruit or vegetable that produces ethylene (like an apple) also will just cause the process to spped up. Thanks for pointing that out!
Barbi
@Toni (Happy Housewife): Thanks for the Stumble! You know, I’m not sure about the spots; I’ve never really thought about it before. Perhaps one of our readers can shed some light on the subject before I Google it?! lol
Barbi