Storage tips - Bananas

Climacteric fruit

Bananas continue to ripen after harvest and actually shouldn't be picked ripe, as this is what allows them to travel and develop their full sweetness at home.

Storage

• Ripen at room temperature: Keep bananas at room temperature, out of direct sun. To speed up ripening, place them in a paper bag or fruit bowl with other climacteric fruits like apples.
• Ripeness indicator: Skin turns from green to yellow, then develops brown spots as sugars develop further — bananas with some spotting are often sweetest.
• Don't refrigerate while unripe: Cold interrupts ripening. Once ripe, you can refrigerate — the skin will darken/blacken, but the flesh stays unaffected.
• Keep bunch together, then separate: Leaving bananas on the stem slows ripening slightly, separate them once you want to speed it up.
• Natural variations: No post-harvest treatments (like chemical ripening gas or waxes) are used, so ripening pace and spotting patterns may vary naturally between bunches.