REVEALED: Why do bananas develop brown spots?
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Who doesn't like bananas? They are sweet, soft, and hard to resist. They can be used in many ways and are easy to eat. Banana bread, banana split, the list goes on…
Aside from that, they are the perfect superfood because they give us energy, make us feel full for longer, and give our bodies all the vitamins, minerals, and natural sugar they need.
However, many people tend to avoid eating them when they develop little brown spots, resulting in unnecessary food waste.
It's likely because of this that researchers have been looking into ways to stop banana peels from becoming dark. The following is information that is essential for you to have.
Oliver Steinbock, who led the study, says that delaying banana peels from turning brown could be the key to wasting less food.
But to learn more about how to stop these brown spots from appearing, we need to know why and how they happen in the first place.
Brown patches on bananas, while they’re still edible, may add to food waste. Credit: Pixabay.
What turns a banana from green to yellow with brown spots? Bananas are, in fact, far too gaseous.
Bananas, like most fruits, produce and react with ethylene, an airborne hormone that helps to signal ripening. When exposed to ethylene gas, fruits lose their acidity, become softer, and lose their green chlorophyll pigments, which are replaced by yellow pigments in bananas.
But unlike most fruits, bananas create a substantial amount of ethylene as they ripen.
While a banana initially ripens sweeter and yellower, it eventually overripens due to excessive ethylene production. Ethylene causes the yellow pigments in bananas to degrade into brown patches.
This natural browning occurs when fruits are crushed. A bruised or damaged banana produces more ethylene, ripening (and browning) faster.
Steinbock and his fellow researchers say that the best way to keep bananas from getting brown spots is to keep them from coming in contact with oxygen as much as possible.
Researchers used both time-lapse videos and a computer model to find out how banana brown spots change over time. The team's computer model was used to figure out how much oxygen was in the peel and how much it had turned brown.
Oxygen from the air gets into the peel through tiny holes called stomata. This is why brown spots form and spread, rather than the whole skin going brown uniformly.
When you bring bananas home from the store, they will last for three to five days at room temperature.
But if you want to keep them from turning brown too quickly, wrapping the banana stems tightly in plastic seems to slow down the ripening process by inhibiting the release of ethylene.
Here's what you can do:
- If you're not going to eat the banana right away, buy one with green along the ridges and on the tips. Bananas that aren't quite ripe can last longer in storage.
- As soon as you get home, pull the bunch apart into individual bananas.
- Cut a 6-10cm long piece of plastic wrap off the roll to make a long, narrow rectangle.
- Wrap the strip of plastic wrap tightly around the stem of each banana a few times, and then tuck the end in so the wrap stays tight.
- Keep the plastic on the banana until you're ready to eat it. As a general rule, bananas will stay fresh for at least a week if the stems are tightly wrapped.
Credit: Kitchen Tips Online.
You can eat a banana with brown spots on it. The brown spots just mean that the banana has gone from being green to being ripe.
In a few days, though, the banana won't just have a few brown spots—it will be brown all over. At this point, eating the banana won't hurt you, but it probably won't taste very good.
When a banana starts to shrink, leak, or grow mould, it has spoiled and should not be eaten. In addition to visual signs of spoilage, rotting bananas have a sour odour.
Enjoy your bananas, members!
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