How to Ripen a Tomato With a Banana

Green, unripe tomatoes are sprayed with ethylene gas by farmers right before they are shipped. This helps them ripen while they are being transported so they will be ready to go to market. You can ripen tomatoes naturally with a banana. Because bananas let off ethylene gas as they ripen, you can put tomatoes with bananas to make the tomatoes ripen faster.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Banana with some green
• 1-4 green tomatoes
• Jar (preferably glass) with a lid

1. Find a jar big enough to fit a small banana and two-to-four tomatoes.

2. Choose a small banana that still has a little green on it at the tip of the stem and place it in the jar.

3. Place one-to-four green tomatoes in the jar and close the lid.

4. Place the jar in a dark place at room temperature or warmer.

5. Check the jar regularly to make sure the banana doesn't rot in the jar. If it does start to become rotten, you'll need to change the banana.

6. Remove your red, ripe tomatoes from the jar in one-to-two weeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Kids can try this as a science experiment. Place one tomato in a jar with a banana and one tomato in a jar by itself. Place them both in a dark place at room temperature and mark your findings everyday in a notebook. You'll notice that the ethylene gas emitted by the banana will make the tomato with the banana ripen at a much faster rate.
• Do not stuff your jar. Putting too many tomatoes in the jar could cause them to become bruised.

[scottmitzi]

on 10/5/2009 This is great. Thanks