this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2025
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You Should Know

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When you buy bananas, break them apart into individual bananas instead of leaving them in the bunch.

Why YSK: The stem of the bunch is the main culprit for releasing ethylene gas, which is basically a ripening accelerator. By separating them, you significantly slow down this process. This means your bananas will stay yellow and edible for far longer, saving you from having to eat a dozen bananas in two days or, more likely, throwing them out. No more premature browning, unless you're specifically aiming for banana bread. Your fruit bowl (and wallet) will thank you.

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[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

How are you able to tell

[–] MourningDove@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 hours ago

AI slop is allowed on .World?

[–] moakley@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I heard the opposite, that separating them ripens them quicker. In my experience this appears to be true.

[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

There's just no way to know! It's impossible for a lone person to generate even a single data point.

[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

What if they do both a thousand times and record results and variables?

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

I've also read keeping them in the produce bag helps

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 6 points 20 hours ago

Damnit Melon, you could have posted this the other week!

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Put them in the fridge and they’ll last for weeks. They might turn brown after a few days but inside they’ll be fine. Put them in an airtight container and they’ll last even longer in the fridge.

[–] asmoranomar@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

Even better: Freeze them!!! Seriously, it tastes like banana ice cream. It's delicious!

[–] Tramort@programming.dev 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

can you post a picture of what the single banana looks like? how much stem do you leave on each one? nothing? so the tip of the edible fruit is showing?

I'm curious but kind of skeptical tbh

[–] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, wouldn't the increased surface area increase the release of gas making everything ripen faster?

[–] lectricleopard@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

The breakage may cause a loss of moisture and cause a reduction in the amount of stem with enough moisture to produce gas?

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Or, ya know, you can just wrap some cellophane around the bunch of stems, and wrap that with a rubber band for extra measure.

Anyways, side note, if you eat a banana (mmm tasty), well mosquitoes will be more attracted to you...

[–] MML@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

One of the chemicals that gives bananas their smell is also released when a honey bee stings you, signaling other bees to attack.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Are you telling me some kind of gmo banana could be like a biological weapon? asks Rampant Paranoia

[–] MML@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility, there have also been cases of large swarms of mosquitoes killing cows, hopefully we're a little more peaceful before someone figures out how to use things like this as a weapon

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Well, I'm writing something at the moment, and I very well may use this for my botanical witch. 😊

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Interesting, today I learned a thing 👍

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have type-o blood. I'm already irresistible to mosquitoes, and I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to realize my wife was counting on this when we walked in the woods.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Look just a little further into the comments, I dug up a couple relevant links.

Apparently beer is also on the skeeter menu.. ☹️

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I was considering quitting bananas, maybe even my type O blood, but once you mentioned giving up beer, I immediately abandoned thr whole idea.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If you smoke enough weed along with drinking the beer, the skeeters get too stoned and drunk and just fall out of the air, right?

Right?

[–] swab148@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 23 hours ago

There's an apocryphal story about the guitarist from The Flaming Lips like this. Apparently, he did so much heroin that mosquitoes would OD on his blood.

[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I actively blow the smoke out at mosquitos I see in the hopes they get fucked up

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I'll see you around the campfire one of these days...

At least somebody gets it 👍

[–] kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Looks around at my type O blood, regular (but moderated) beer intake, and love for bananas

We'll I'll be damned.

[–] irish_link@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wait… what!?

This is new to me, any chance you have an article to help me understand the science behind this?

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] irish_link@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

D’oh! Thanks for the info, now I will have to pick a different drink after mowing.

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

TIL

I presume you wanna cut them apart because mine usually don’t separate clean

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

This OP doesn't know what they're talking about. The bananas are picked green, stacked in a warehouse, and then the whole thing is fumigated with ethylene gas. This triggers the ripening process. It doesn't come from the stem or anything like that (in commercial setting, if left as a bunch on the tree maybe).

[–] bobgobbler@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You… must have never bought bananas then?

The banana still produces ethylene gas, increasing as they get more rip. Regardless of what started the ripening, it doesn’t just stop because you’re no longer pumping gas.

And OPs tip 100% works.

So what the fuck are you even talking about lol?

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 8 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Have you tested it? Thoroughly? Side by side in controlled conditions? Tell you what, I'll post my sources. You post yours, and we'll compare.

Source one - Ann Reardon tracked down the origin of this myth and put it to test. She's got an actual degree in food science and makes it approachable for people without a science background. She shows clips of the bulk gassing. I got curious and tested it at home with a similar method to her except I used entire bunches of bananas and gave each bunch their own room to control the process more. I did control for sunlight and temperature as best I could do those were equal across the bunches. The fridge banana was indeed the only one that didn't ripen at the same time as the rest.

Source two - a paper discussing how ethylene gas works to trigger ripening and that bananas (and other fruits) are picked green and then gassed with ethylene to control the process. It talks about how this gassing kicks off the process and once it starts there's no stopping it because the enzymatic processes have begun and enough ethylene gas has already permeated the membrane. It also mentions needing hypobaric conditions to stop mature fruit from speeding up the ripening of immature fruit. Which a fridge although not negative pressure is closer than ambient.

Source three - External application of ethylene to induce ripening suppresses a bananas internal production of ethylene gas. It's already producing less than it would on a vine because it doesn't need to.

Okay now where's yours?

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 1 points 21 hours ago

I think we need to buy 4 bunches of bananas from the same grocery store, split two, leave two out but apart. Then record the results

[–] PopcornPrincess@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] obinice@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

His answer seems slightly human but is confidently incorrect?

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 2 points 20 hours ago

I don't suspect AI per se, but it feels more like just copying questions and answers from Reddit. Which yeah ok it's basically what other AIs do.

[–] MTZ@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

My girlfriend breaks them apart into singles and then wraps the calyx of each banana (the place where they all were joined....I'm not sure that calyx is the correct word) with aluminum foil. I don't know if the foil makes any difference though.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You need to wipe it in honey first, and cover the honey in cinnamon. Then take a toothpick and push it through the center of that. Then, kid you not, chocolate syrup. Put it in the freezer and it’ll last a millennium.

[–] MTZ@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I can't tell if you are fucking with me right now. But that sounds delicious so I'm going to try it anyway.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

It might be delicious if we weren't talking about the inedible fibrous stump of a banana peel.

[–] MTZ@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Update: the stem/whatever it is of a banana, even when slathered with multiple delicious things, is in fact still disgusting.

[–] MTZ@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

She seems to think that wrapping the stump in foil protects the rest of the fruit. I don't see how it would, but I just roll with it. Her parents do it too. They are all from a completely different culture so I just shrug and smile.

[–] tomi000@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

You can very easily test this with 2 bananas next to each other

[–] Codandchips@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Who keeps bananas longer than a week? I mean in our household if we buy 10 on Saturday they'll be one left by the following Friday... 😋

[–] AoxoMoxoA@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I eat a whole hand of bananas in a day or two

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

I do because I mean to make chocolate chip banana bread, they get ripe, I turn away, oh FUCK they're bad lmfao.