Banana experiment

[Jim K..]

Or a fluke. Come back after 6 months with raw data....

[Harry Bloomfield]

I read somewhere, that if the stalk of a banana is covered over with cling film, they will ripen more slowly. So I have just tested the theory.

Six bananas in a bunch, split them up and cover the stalks of three. All six developed brown spots at around the same time, the three without film were going brown and over rip inside yesterday. The three with cling film, despite the brown spots on the skin, were still white and solid inside. Conclusion, cling film does work..

[harry]

I expect the cling film stops evaporation from the stalk?

Ripening is caused by ethylene gas being evolved.

[Jeff Layman]

Strangely, that page doesn't mention bananas at all. Further info here:

[Harry Bloomfield]

Jeff Layman used his keyboard to write :

The cling film ones have out lasted the ones without cling-film, so far three days.

I'm the only one in the house who eats them, but I don't eat them every day, so a bunch has to last a while. Problem with bananas is they can quite suddenly turn to a soggy brown mess. So I was curious if there might be a way to slow the process down and cling film seems to work.

[Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp]

All is not lost, Mix the soggy brown mess one to one with strong flour, add yeast and salt.

Knead if you require the excercise, I prefer my el cheapo Andre James chinese food mixer.

Allow to rise and bake at around 180 Centigrade.

It does not have quite the same mood altering effects as banana beer, but it's a close second :-)

AB

[Brian Gaff]

All you are doing though is stopping as much moisture from getting out. Brian

[Harry Bloomfield]

Brian Gaff wrote on 20/06/2019 :

Yes but my sample of three seemed to confirm it worked, to delay the banana rot.

It might be moisture getting out, air getting in, or even a mix of both.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Same here. I let them get near ripe then plonk them in the fridge. The skins don't look too pretty when you come to use them, but the insides are OK after getting them to room temperature. They don't taste as good cold to me.