North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On Sep 12, 2008, at 3:35 PM, Don Yellman wrote:
> . . .
> When you want to eat all your bananas right away, buying them  
> yellow with speckles is fine.  But it's downhill very quickly after  
> that.  If you buy a large hand intending to eat them over a period  
> of days, it is better to buy them green, or, better yet, a mix of  
> green and yellow.  The green bananas will all ripen up if you just  
> wait few days, and will end up with exactly the same quality and  
> sweetness as the yellow models. . .


If I'm buying a banana for today, I look for one that's all yellow.   
If I'm buying a bunch of bananas for my husband to eat over the week,  
I buy ones that have some of green left.  If they are on sale, and  
I'm buying a lot of bananas, I'll buy some with a little green and  
others that are hard and mostly green.  We refer to bananas on the  
shelf as "today's bananas" or "tomorrow's bananas" or "oops, time to  
make banana bread".

I assumed everyone did this.  Bananas ripen very well on the shelf,  
and you can tell at a glance when they are at their peak.  I sort of  
think this is one reason they are so popular.  Unlike apples, which  
have been bred to turn red before they are ripe, and are stored in a  
controlled environment that keeps them fresh just long enough to  
reach your home, after which they immediately degrade to "old  
apples", bananas are very honest about their condition.

Ginda Fisher
Eastern MA, zone 6