How to Ripen a Banana in a Bag for a Science Project

You can easily accelerate banana ripening for immediate consumption.

Bananas ripen quickly when exposed to high levels of ethylene gas. By placing bananas in a closed environment near other fruits that release this gas -- like tomatoes, apples and pears -- green bananas will quickly turn yellow. This experiment must be performed at room temperature. Placing bananas in the refrigerator will slow down the ripening process.

Things You'll Need

• Banana
• Paper bag
• Tomato or apple

Instructions

1. Take an unripened banana, and place it in a paper bag.

2. Add a tomato or apple to the bag with the banana.

3. Close the bag to seal in the fruit and ethylene gas, to speed up the ripening process. Leave the bag on the kitchen counter, if you want the banana to ripen at a moderately accelerated rate. Leave the bag on the window sill in the sun, if you want it to ripen even faster. Do not put the bag in the refrigerator.

4. Wait 24 hours, and open the bag. The banana should be ripe.

References

• Broken Secrets: How to Accelerate and Slow Banana Ripening
• Gardening Central: How to Ripen Bananas
• Health Diaries: Eat This: How to Ripen Bananas Quickly
• Science Ray: Banana Ripening Biology Experiment