Here's your in the pantry tip to keeping up with your fruits.
*First of all only fruits ripen after picked, vegetables do not.
*Second of all ripening is the process of starches becoming sugars... hence why fruits are sweeter when they are riper.
| Notice how when your banana is green it is tougher (starchier) and when it is yellow or brown in is mushier (sugars). |
In order to ripen, fruits give off a gas hormone. All fruits give off this hormone, however some give off more than others. The APPLE, for example, gives off the most.
| "I give off a lot of gas" |
So, when you place apples in a fruit basket among other fruits the other fruits will ripen at an accerlated rate, causing browning probably sooner than you anticipated. Also, if one apple is bruised (a precursor to higher hormone) the entire batch of apples will go bad faster. So, when people reference bad apples, they are referring to the fact and phrase that one bad apple can spoil an entire barrel.
| Ripening Persimmon in a bag. |
In conclusion, if you want your fruit to ripen faster place them in a bag or next to apples. If you want them to last longer and stay fresh, keep them out in a bowl with fresh air and no apples. Fruit should last 7-10 days after purchasing.
This was In the Pantry: Ripening Fruit. Stay tuned for more!
This was passed along to me and from personal experience I can attest to it, but bananas will ripen slower when they are separated from the bunch. I'm sure this is because they are less exposed to the other bananas' hormones, so if you plan ahead it can work out nicely. Buy the bananas with some level of green-ness (depending on when you plan to start eating them), keep a few bunched together and break off the others. They should ripen at different speeds, which makes a banana a day a more manageable experience instead of ending up stuffing two a day down before they go bad or throwing them out when they've hit that nasty over ripen stage, I personally like my bananas best with shades of green still at the ends. Speaking of which, slicing up and freezing bananas on a plate when they are on their last leg makes for a healthy summer treat. Even yummier if you drizzle chocolate syrup on them, but not as healthy.
ReplyDelete