How to Store Bananas So They Don’t Turn Black

When it comes to bananas, the rule of thumb is: Never store your bananas in the fridge. Instead, store your bananas in a space that is room temperature.

First, buy your bananas is while they’re still a little green, then keep them in a room temperature setting until they’re ready to eat.

As your banana ripens, it gets sweeter, softer, that “banana smell” becomes a bit more noticeable, and your banana starts to brown. This color change does not mean that your fruit has gone bad.  Actually, black bananas are perfect for baking!

6 Good Reasons to Eat a Banana Today

The first—and maybe only—rule that you need to know when it comes to storing bananas is to avoid keeping bananas in the fridge, especially before they’re ripe. Bananas are tropical fruits, and, in general, tropical fruits don’t handle cold storage well. That’s why the best way to store bananas is at room temperature, not in the fridge, especially when they’re green and not yet ripened. Placing an unripe banana in the fridge will stall the fruit’s ability to ripen, and, according to the experts at Chiquita Banana, “they may not be able to resume the ripening process even if they are returned to room temperature.”

And you want to give your banana a chance to ripen, otherwise, you’ll be stuck with a green, starchy fruit that’s not pleasant to eat. As a banana ripens, it gets sweeter, softer, more aromatic—and also browner. That discoloration isn’t a sign that your fruit’s gone bad, though. It’s a natural part of the ripening process, and the more discoloration, generally the riper and sweeter the fruit. If you do insist on refrigerating your bananas, the time to do it is when it’s got some of those speckles, indicating the starch has turned to sugar. As Harold McGee explains in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, “Once a fruit is ripe, it can be refrigerated with relatively little discoloration of the flesh,” though he notes, “the peel will still turn black.”

Read full article here.