How to Take Bananas Apart to Slow Ripening

The slower your bananas ripen, the more time it will take before they look like this.

Nearly everyone at some point has brought home a bunch of bananas, left them in the sun and before you know it, the bananas have started to turn brown, speckled, mushy and overly sweet. While some people prefer their bananas in that condition, slowing down the ripening process allows you to consume more of the bananas you buy. As bananas ripen they give off a powerful amount of ethylene gas. This gas can even help to expedite the ripening process of other nearby fruits. Thus, separating bananas is key to decelerate the ripening process. Does this Spark an idea?

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Instructions

- 1
  
  Place your bunch of bananas on a flat surface, out of direct sunlight and at room temperature. Grab a banana on the exterior of the bunch by the stem and split it away from the rest of the fruits.
- 2
  
  Continue in this manner, splitting up all the bananas from the bunch. Be careful not to break the stem at the top of each banana, opening the fruit inside. Rather, you goal is to evenly separate the banana stems until you have a pile of separate bananas in front of you, instead of a compact bunch.
- 3
  
  Place each banana in separate compartments of your fridge. The fridge is a cold, dark place which will prevent them from ripening too fast. Storing them in separate compartments prevents them from feeding off of each others' ethylene gas, which speeds the ripening process.