Life hack: How to keep bananas riper for longer

How often have you bought a bunch of bananas and thought “great, breakfast is sorted for the week”, only for Thursday to roll around and we find our healthy bunch of bananas have been reduced to a brown and yellow mess.

Many people have different tricks or theories in order to try and increase the life of their bananas. We here at Starts at Sixty have uncovered a couple of differing methods that are sure to help keep your bananas fresher for longer.

1. Wrap each individual stem in plastic wrap

By wrapping the stems of your bananas in plastic wrap, you prevent ethylene gas from reaching the other parts of the fruit. Ethylene gas is the gas that occurs naturally during the ripening process, and is thought to accelerate the ripening process. While this method wont stop all of the gas from getting through, it’s better then nothing and is sure to make at least some difference in the life of your fruit

2. Use lemon juice or vinegar to keep banana slices fresh

Sounds funky, but the use of lemon juice or vinegar removes the amount of oxygen that gets to the fruit and in turn reduces enzymatic browning. You’ll want to be careful if using vinegar. Too much will leave you with sour banana slices. Use about a teaspoon of vinegar and try to coat all of sides of the slices.

How do you keep your bananas fresh? Let us know in the comments below.

Originally published here