This nifty trick will keep your bananas fresh for longer

Bananas tend to ripen so quickly, (especially in summer!) that we’re often left with brown and soft bananas. And there’s few things more frustrating than throwing away perfectly good food.

But this nifty hack will keep bananas fresher and tastier for longer, and all you need is cling wrap – it’s that easy! 

Wrapping your bananas in cling wrap as soon as you get home from the shops with them will slow down the ripening process and keep your bananas fresh. Bananas, like many other fruits, naturally produce gases (ethylene gas) while they ripen. Without wrapping the banana in cling wrap, the gas spreads to the fruit, helping it ripen faster. By using cling film or Saran wrap, you’re trapping the gas so it can’t reach the other pieces of fruit and thus slowing down the ripening process. 

Next time you buy a bunch of bananas, separate them, and then wrap cling wrap around each one individually. Separating the bananas is a vital step, because if the bananas are still connected by the stem, it won’t work. Bananas, even in the same bunch, will ripen at different rates, and if one banana (in the bunch) is ripe, there’s a good chance the gas it produces while it ripens will spread onto the other bananas, resulting in a whole of ripened and then over-ripe bananas. 

If you’ve sliced up the banana, whether it’s to put it in the fridge for later or to make a tasty fruit salad, to avoid bruising and browning, cover the banana chunks in a bit of lemon, pineapple juice or vinegar.

If it’s too late and the bananas are too ripe, it may be time to consider making banana bread. Easy to whip up, banana bread is actually designed to be made with overripe bananas, and all you need is a few simple ingredients. You can find a delicious recipe here. 

Have you tried this method before? How do you store bananas? Do you have any tips to keep them fresher for longer?