• Science

    Can This Fruit Be Saved?

    By Posted on 6.20.2008 6 Comments

    Ed Note: In 2005 Dan Koeppel traveled to Central America to begin his research on the banana—a fruit whose ubiquity, he discovered, may very well prove to be its downfall. His book, Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, was recently published to much acclaim. Here's the feature that started it all. "A Banana," says Juan Fernando Aguilar, "is not just a banana." The bearded botanist and I are traipsing through one of the world's most unusual banana plantations, moving down row after row of towering plants and ducking into the shade of broad leaves in an attempt to avoid the Central American midday heat. In an area about the size of a U.S. shopping mall, Aguilar, 46, is growing more than 300 banana varieties. Most commercial growing facilities handle just a single banana type-the one we Americans slice into our morning cereal.

    3.7.2008 at 10:28am - Comment by Joseph Meisenhelder

    Procedure Explained I put my store-bought bananas in one of my reused plastic produce or grocery bags. I push out the air from the bag and close the bag tightly. I have stored bananas up to five weeks in the refrigerator this way without the skins turning dark or the flavor deteriorating quickly. I just recently ate one which had been on the lower or middle shelf for five weeks. It was fine. I saved it an extra week longer, by itself, in the plastic bag even though I had eaten the rest of them for four weeks prior. Those prior ones tasted good throughout that four week period. Why Does It Work? One thing taking place is that the ethylene gas is still active but greatly slowed by the chill. They still continue to ripen, but much slower. The bags shield the the bananas from dehydration and oxygen. Bananas which are not protected by this plastic bag, chilled storage method apparently get oxidized. If something gets oxidized by a flame, for example, it turns black. The bananas do something similar when they are gotten too cold without protection. ------ Simplify the 7 billion religious belief systems of humans.



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