The one fruit you should never store next to bananas

I learned this the hard way.

We’re a family of five, so if you walk into my home and don’t see apples and bananas on the counter, it’s time to call the authorities. Those are a few grocery items that we can’t function without, and when our fruit bowl is empty, I get a little anxious. But what I really need to add to our counter is a secondary fruit bowl because I’ve learned the hard way that not all fruit should be stored together. The biggest troublemaker of the bunch? Bananas.

The One Fruit You Should Never Store Next to Bananas

I’ve already raised two toddlers, and I’m in the thick of raising the toddler-est one of the bunch. Speaking from experience, the importance of the color, shape, and texture of bananas is not discussed enough in parenting books. 

I recently noticed that my bright yellow, flawless bananas were turning brown and spotty overnight, which may as well be garbage to a picky toddler. Similarly, the apples that got packed into lunchboxes were coming home uneaten. After about a week of this, I asked my older son why he wasn’t eating his apple slices, and he told me without hesitation that they were “gross and tasted like dishwater.” Kids really know how to sugarcoat bad news. 

Being the sensible mother I am, of course, I didn’t believe him. I cut an apple for myself, only to find that, while it looked perfectly red and shiny on the outside, the flesh was mealy and, in fact, had a very distinct off-flavor. 

I hate to admit that my first thought was to blame my beloved Costco. While I love everything I buy there, the produce has occasionally been less than ideal. But digging into this further, I discovered the seemingly perfect coupling of apples and bananas had a much more troubled relationship bubbling beneath the surface. 

After some research, I learned that both bananas and apples are considered climacteric fruits, or fruits that continue to ripen after they’ve been picked. As they ripen, both fruits emit ethylene gas, a naturally occurring plant hormone. This hormone signals anything stored nearby to hurry up and ripen. Apples produce even more ethylene gas than bananas, so while it’s really common to store them together, it’s not ideal for the overall taste, texture, and longevity of either fruit.

Other fruits that have a similar effect (although to a less severe degree) include avocados, pears, and tomatoes. That said, if you even want to ripen an avocado faster, store it near your bananas! 

To slow ripening down, what I’ve learned works best is to store bananas on their own, and to also break up the bunch a little. Bananas not only ripen the fruit around them, but when in a concentrated bunch, will also self-ripen, which usually leads to bananas that are destined to be bread or muffins. Next time you bring your bananas home, be sure to give them a wash, then place them on their own deserted island to save yourself from food waste—or a toddler uprising.

Read the original article on Simply Recipes