Bananas have a short life span. If no appropriate measure is put in place to preserve them after harvest, the whole bunch or consignment can go to waste. As the adage goes that prevention is better than cure, it is easy and inexpensive to take early preservation measures to keep your bananas fresh to avert possible damages that may occur.
Bananas for export are handled with utmost care to ensure they reach the market while still in good condition. The storage and preservation cost makes banana exportation expensive. Not only bananas but also other fruits require specialized storage and transportation because they are perishable.
On most occasions, shoppers buy a bunch of bananas but do not eat them at once. The remaining bananas must be kept in good condition for use next time. Keeping bananas fresh for a long period saves money that would have been spent to buy other bananas.
How to Keep Bananas Fresh
It is thus imperative for you to be acquainted with different methods that you can use to preserve bananas. You can use the following methods to preserve your bananas:
1. Keep bananas away from direct sunlight
Light catalyzes a chemical reaction that speeds up the ripening process. Ethylene gas is speedily activated in the presence of light thus faster ripening.
For bananas to stay fresh for a longer period, keep them away from light. A darker cool room is an ideal place to keep your bananas. Bananas are best kept at a temperature of 12-13 degrees Celsius.
As a result, some people prefer to harvest bananas at night when there is no sunlight. Harvesting bananas at night is becoming a common practice in banana-growing communities.
2. Keep bananas away from other fruits
Mixing bananas with other fruits such as apples, avocados, tomatoes, and grapes hastens their ripening. This happens due to ethylene gas produced by other fruits as they ripen.
If you want your bananas to have a longer lifespan, do not store them together with other fruits.
3. Wrap banana stems
Bananas emit ethylene gas through their stem. By sealing the stem, the emission of ethylene gas is reduced thus the ripening is slowed down.
Wrapping of the stem stops the absorption of ethylene produced by other ripening fruits and also reduces the evaporation of water.
4. Separate bananas from a bunch
Wrapping bananas in a bunch leaves some holes at the stem through which ethylene gas still escapes and speeds up the ripening. The most effective way of preventing ethylene from moving down the fruit is to pluck bananas from a bunch and wrap them separately.
5. Spray with lime juice
You can keep bananas fresh by spraying them with orange, lime, or any acidic fruit juice. Cut banana slices can be dipped in lime juice. If it is a whole peeled banana, you can spray the lime juice over the banana.
6. Freeze the bananas
Frozen banana retains the nutritional value of fresh bananas however long it takes. Frozen bananas can stay for approximately six months without going bad.
You should ensure that the bananas are adequately ripened before you freeze them.
7. Store the bananas in the refrigerator
You can store the bananas in the refrigerator. Place your bananas in a container and then put the container in the refrigerator. When you want to eat the banana, you should remove the banana from the refrigerator some hours before you consume them.
How to Keep Bananas Fresh When Transporting for Long Distances
Bananas are transported over a long distance in a special refrigerator container. Ships, planes, and trucks used to transport bananas for export over long distances are fitted with devices that control the temperature to the desired level.
If bananas were to be transported casually, they would ripen before reaching the market thus fetching less money than is supposed.