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How to keep bananas fresh longer?
That is the question… Keeping bananas fresh and good continues to be a question. How can we make them last longer? Bananas are the most wasted produce item in the world!
Can I save half a banana and keep it fresh? As a mom, I had littles who would eat half a banana. I always seemed to have half a banana laying around turning brown. I just wanted to keep the banana fresh.
Testing Keeping Bananas Fresh Longer
I decided to take the bananas to the test. My goal is to keep bananas fresh as long as possible. Everything seems to store and last better in glass. So I decided to try an experiment and this is what I have found so far. I took a ripe banana (we will get to ripening a banana in a minute) and cut it in half with the peel on, cut in half with the peel off, and sliced with the peel off and put each in its own glass jar. I used a wide mouth pint jar.
This is what the cut bananas look like after 36 hours. Imagine what you could do with this after a day and a half? Imagine having bananas fresh longer at your house! It can be done!
Only want half a banana? Great, sweetie. You can have half a banana. Throw the other half in a jar and eat it tomorrow or the next day. Maybe longer as we are still testing this theory and will update! If you want the best results keep the banana as whole as possible, in a peel and put in a jar similarly to an avocado (see my post here about how to tell if it’s ready).
Organic vs. Conventionally Grown
There seems to be an ongoing discussion among scientists, health experts and consumers whether buying organic produce is actually better than buying conventionally grown produce, or if it is just more expensive and there really isn’t much of a difference. I’m not going to discuss all of that here because I know that there are many views on this topic and the point of this post isn’t to start a debate.
That being said, I only buy organic produce. This is a personal choice, and I have found that this works best with my family’s food choices, dietary and health-related needs.
I started out buying conventionally grown produce but along the way, I discovered this concept of “the dirty dozen”, which I learned about here.
Pesticides and Bananas
It educates about pesticides in produce and puts out an annual list of the top fruits and veggies that contain pesticides. Bananas were not the first organic fruit I switched over to buying. I have, however, noticed a few differences between organic produce and conventionally grown. I knew that the seal on the end has something to do with their ability to last longer. My daughter, who is a plant science major in college, has been on all the live videos I have done recently and saw a lot of questions about bananas. Since this topic is something she knows a great deal about, she was excited to share some of the science behind why they do what they do.
Ripening a Banana
In my avocado post, we talked a bit about a naturally occurring gas called ethylene. Fruit naturally releases this gas as the ripening process continues. It is also commercially used to speed up the ripening process on produce that is harvested when it is not yet ripe.
This process allows the produce to arrive at a store in near perfect condition. It looks nice, and it’s ready to eat.
Unfortunately, as my daughter shared, one downside of this practice is that the fruit does not know how to stop this process (it’s not supposed to, right?) and so it continues to ripen at a faster than normal speed and, therefore, browns quicker than its organic counterpart that is not sprayed with artificial ethylene. Without the hyper encouragement of the ethylene spray, organic produce ripens at a natural pace and will last longer. If you are interested in learning more about bananas and pesticides, here is another informative read.
Storing Bananas
First off, do not wash your bananas. Some types of produce you wash and this is not one of them. Also, my daughter also mentioned that since bananas are a tropical fruit, they have no adaptation to the cold. That is why they brown so quickly when stored in the fridge.
If you want them to last longer, I would recommend not putting them in the fridge until ripe and in a jar. Consider using a banana hanger like this one here.
Did you know there is also an actual reason behind hanging your bananas? It’s not just to make them look pretty and easier to access apart from other fruit in the bowl. Hanging them keeps them separate from other fruits and prevents bruising.
A Banana and an Avocado
An interesting thing about bananas is that if you have an avocado that you want to use and it isn’t ripe yet, you can put them together in a paper bag to speed up the process for the avocado. Keep in mind that the banana will also ripen quicker, so you will want to monitor and take the banana out while it is still edible.
Keeping Bananas Fresh by Freezing
One thing I like to do with my bananas is to use them in smoothies. If I have too many bananas, it is easy to slice some up, lay out the slices on a cookie sheet, and put them in the freezer for a few hours. By putting them in a single layer on the cookie sheet, they won’t clump together when you store them.
I put them in a Stasher bag (link here) or you can use a ziplock. Then they go in my really cool smoothie drawer in the freezer that has all the ingredients I like to use for smoothies, so I put the bananas in here, along with things like other fruit, spinach and kale. Everything is right there for my smoothie ready to go!
Who knew you could keep a banana fresh longer in a jar?
Are you going to try bananas in a jar now? (It might be time to buy another case of jars.)
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