Bananas are a fickle fruit that often turns brown and spotty within a few days, but they may be ripening before their time due to improper storage. It may seem obvious to keep your bananas in a bowl with other fruit, but it turns out this is one of the worst ways to store them.

The experts at Zest Food Service have shared that bananas, as well as other fruits, release a gas called ethylene (or ethene), which speeds up ripening. They said, “The ethene which bananas release can affect many other fruits, such as apples and pears, which is why you should keep the bananas separate from these fruits unless you intentionally want to ripen them quicker.” 

Ethene, also known as ethylene, is a natural gas that fruits release to begin ripening as it helps make them sweeter, softer, and easier to eat.

However, too much ethene in the air causes bananas to begin ripening at a much faster rate, and anything in a fruit bowl will begin to spoil. 

Bananas are one of the biggest producers of ethene, but apples, pears, and avocados also release a lot of the gas, so they need to be kept far away from each other to stay fresh. 

If you want bananas to stay fresh and yellow for longer, remove them from a fruit bowl and store them somewhere at room temperature in the kitchen. 

Then, all you have to do is wrap up the banana stems with tin foil or cling film, as it will help greatly reduce the amount of ethene in the air. 

The expert said: “If you block this crown with cling-film or silver foil, you can prevent the gas from escaping and severely slow down the ripening process. This could give you another three to five days on the natural ripening timescale.” 

However, if you want your bananas to last even longer, then you can store them in the fridge, which may seem bizarre but it stops ethene from being able to ripen the fruit. 

The expert said: “You can store them in the fridge and this will maintain the firmness and flavour of the banana, but will allow the skin to turn brown, even though the fruit inside remains light coloured.”

Bananas are a hot climate fruit so bear in mind that the cold temperatures will cause the banana peel to turn brown but the fruit inside will stay yellow and fresh. 

It is also important to know that bananas should only be stored in the fridge if they are are yellow as it completely stops the ripening process.

Green bananas will not be able to develop properly in the cold so will stay bitter, starchy and firm so make sure to only store bananas in the fridge once they are yellow. 

Use the clingfilm method when you first bring bananas home from the supermarket, then store them in the fridge once they are yellow and they stay fresh for much longer.