One of the food tips that I've heard before is to separate bananas at the top to keep them from ripening quickly, but I never understood why or saw this in action. This week's Banana Experiment proves it's true, however: if you want to hold onto your bananas for longer, separate them at the stem.


I got the bananas in the picture above on Monday, and separated the three on the right, which are clearly still greener than the ones at left, just two days later.

Tammy's Recipes notes that the reason bananas ripen more quickly when they aren't separated is because they emit ethylene gas. Also, if you do want to ripen bananas more quickly, you can put them in a brown paper bag (or use rice or newspaper perhaps).


Ripen Fruit Faster by Burying it in Rice Burying your fruit in uncooked rice is a quick and easy way to shave a few days off the ripening… Read more

Got a food hack or fruit tip for us? Post it in the comments!