Thanks for Stopping By!

Welcome to all visitors and new followers. It is great that you have taken the time to read a post or two. Please visit again and continue to keep it simple and make it real.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Bananas - Keep Them Fresh



My grocery list for today contained bananas.  We love bananas but I hate to buy too many at a time because they turn brown before we get to eat them all.

Very coincidentally I opened a site with instructions for keeping bananas fresh.  I will copy some of the article written by Wilgubeast and you can find the complete deal at
Instructables.


"To keep a bunch of bananas fresh for longer, wrap the stems in some plastic wrap. Re-cover the bananas with the wrap after removing one.
This method prevents ethylene gas, produced naturally in the ripening process, from reaching other parts of the fruit and prematurely ripening it. This technique is hit or miss, as the coverage from the plastic wrap is unlikely to fully prevent contact with the ethylene gas. It's certainly better than nothing, though.
 
Individual bananas
Divide and conquer! Separate the ripe fruit from the slightly-less-ripe, wrap their stems in plastic, then enjoy when you're ready.

This should do a couple of things:
prevent ethylene gas from initiating the ripening process on under-ripe bananas
fully cover the stem to really forestall the off-gassing
make your bananas more convenient to grab and enjoy on the go
And if you're bothered by the stem wrapper, try opening your bananas from the opposite end like a monkey. You'll get fewer stringy bits and have a convenient handle to hold onto while you eat. Also, no awkwardness for that final bite.
 
Banana Slices
To prevent your banana slices from browning, you can use the same trick you've seen for apples: acid!

Just toss your banana slices in some lemon juice to inhibit enzymatic browning. Full coverage, particularly on the cut sides, will help prevent the slices from turning brown. In addition to lemon juice, vinegar will also work. So would sulfuric acid, for that matter, but you probably don't want to eat it afterwards.

The acid disrupts the enzymatic breakdown process and prevents your sweet, sweet banana slices from turning into mushy little brown hockey pucks.

A dab'll do ya, so keep your acid in the teaspoon range. Or you'll just have sour bananas."
********************************************************************

I really don't understand all the talk about the various gases involved and, quite frankly, I am not interested enough to discover why this works. But, I will try it and hope the Fresh Fruit Fairy will wave her magic wand over my bananas.

Today .... keep it real and make it simple.

No comments:

Post a Comment