This simple hack will help you keep bananas fresh and firm for 20 days

To ensure your bananas stay yellow and firm for up to 20 days, it is essential to store them properly. While many households often keep a fruit bowl in the kitchen, combining bananas, apples, and melons in this manner is not ideal for their longevity. This is prepared by SSP.

To extend the freshness of your fruits and avoid quick spoilage, consider utilizing more practical storage methods, such as cling film and a tree hanger. Tash Blythe, a food hygiene expert from High Speed Training, suggests a few top tips to prevent your store-bought bananas from turning brown and mushy within a few days while keeping them vibrant and firm for a longer period.

The first tip is to purchase bananas when they are still green and allow them to ripen at home. Bright yellow bananas found in stores are already ripe and have a shorter shelf life than their green counterparts. Avoid storing your bananas in plastic bags as this hastens the ripening process.

Bananas, like many other fruits, release ethylene gas. When trapped in a sealed bag, this gas accumulates and speeds up the ripening process. To counteract this, store your bananas on a countertop or in a well-ventilated area away from moisture, direct sunlight, and excessive warmth during the ripening stage. Keep them away from heat sources like ovens or warm appliances as heat accelerates ripening.

Another useful technique is to separate individual bananas to prevent the release of ethylene gas from one banana affecting the ripening of others nearby. By wrapping the stem of each banana in cling film or plastic wrap, you minimize the gas that travels down the fruit, allowing them to remain fresher for a longer time.

For those who prefer to keep their bananas intact, investing in a banana tree hanger can help promote air circulation around the bunch and slow down the ripening process. Once your bananas have ripened to perfection, you can prolong their life by refrigerating them.

However, it is important not to refrigerate bananas while they are ripening, as the cold temperature can impede the ripening process. Instead, once they are fully ripened at room temperature, placing them in the fridge can extend their freshness. Tash recommends purchasing completely green bananas, which usually take around three to four days to ripen to the desired yellow color. By using the cling film or plastic wrap technique and refrigerating the bananas, they can last for up to an impressive 20 days. Despite the appearance of the brown outer skin, the fruit inside should remain fresh and enjoyable.