Unlike local fruits, bananas only ripen after they have been harvested. Because of this, they can be transported to the end consumer in the highest quality. Their color reveals a lot about the current stage of ripeness.
How do bananas ripen after harvest?
Bananas only ripen after they have been harvested, changing their color and their starch-sugar balance. Ideal storage conditions are temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. To speed up the ripening process, you can store bananas together with apples.
What happens during ripening?
When the still green banana is harvested, the starch-sugar balance is in a ratio of 20:1. During the maturation process this is gradually reversed.
The ripening stage of bananas can be seen by the yellow color. As soon as the yellow banana invites you to eat it, its starch-sugar balance is reversed.
Consumers can now tell by the taste. The sweet banana fruit impresses with 20 parts sugar and one part starch.
Support maturation
So that bananas can ripen into sweet temptations after harvesting, they should under no circumstances be stored in the refrigerator. A constant room temperature of 15 to 20 degrees Celsius is much better. It can also be dark.
This property of bananas is used when transporting them from their countries of origin. The temperature on the cargo ships is cooled to 13.2 degrees Celsius. In this way the ripening process is delayed. When they arrive in the destination countries, they make a stopover in a ripening chamber, where the ripening master oversees the process until it is handed over to the seller.
What the color reveals about the ripeness stage:
- Color level 1: “Dark green” The banana is harvested.
- Color level 2: “Light green” ripening process has already started.
- Color level 3: “Green, a little yellow” Delivery to retailers at high outside temperatures.
- Color level 4: “Yellow, little green” Delivery to domestic retailers in Germany.
- Color level 5: “Yellow, green tips” Perfect stage of ripeness for sale to end consumers.
- Color level 6: “Yellow” Best time for enjoyment.
- Color level 7: “Yellow with brown sugar spots” Recommended to consume bananas immediately.
Tips & Tricks
Hobby gardeners can give their own harvested bananas a little help when ripening. If apples are stored together with bananas that are still green, they will ripen faster.
