There are few snacks more convenient than a sweet banana perfectly wrapped in its skin. To keep them fresh and tasty for as long as possible, there are a few things to keep in mind when storing bananas.
Bananas don't belong in the fridge
Rule of thumb for storing fruit and vegetables
Where did the fruit you are holding in your hands come from? You should ask yourself this question every time you stand in the kitchen and want to put away your groceries. All types of fruit and vegetables like the temperatures they are familiar with from their homeland: celery, carrots or apples, for example, prefer it cool because they are familiar with the sometimes low temperatures from their growing regions. Tropical fruits or Mediterranean vegetables, on the other hand, cannot handle cold temperatures; they would suffer cold damage and lose their aroma. Oranges, bananas, peppers, tomatoes & Co. do not belong in the fridge.
Best storage conditions for bananas
Clearly, you should never store bananas in the refrigerator, as the cold will cause them to turn gray and brown and become increasingly mushy. But under what conditions do bananas stay tasty the longest?
- Temperature depending on the degree of ripeness: Depending on whether you want your bananas to ripen a little longer or keep them for as long as possible, store them at room temperature or a little cooler, for example in your storage cellar. The warmer it is, the quicker the bananas will ripen (and therefore turn brown quicker).
- Preferably dark: A dark storage location promotes the shelf life of the bananas.
- Dry: Bananas should be stored at low humidity. So mold doesn't stand a chance.
- Airy: To prevent the bananas from bruising, ideally hang them up on a hook instead of placing them in a fruit bowl.
- Without company: If bananas are kept next to apples, they will turn brown and overripe very quickly. This is because apples give off the ripening gas ethylene. It is the same the other way around: Bananas also give off the ripening gas, which allows other types of fruit and vegetables in their vicinity to continue to ripen. This can also be a desired effect: if you want bananas to ripen later, place them next to apples. If you want other fruit to ripen later, place bananas next to it.
Incidentally, if bananas do get overripe, it doesn't matter: the particularly sweet ripe bananas are ideal for a delicious banana cake or banana quark!
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself