Going Bananas
I have to share this banana story, because these were the best store-bought bananas I ever had. I bought them right around the time of the "Big Freeze" in Texas. I can't recall now if it was just before or just after, but when I bought them, the store only had green bananas available. I purchased a bunch that had 6 bananas, grown in Ecuador. I don't recall which company logo was on the sticker. (Dole and Chiquita are pretty common here.)
I assume the green bananas will not be a problem because they ripen so quickly anyway, thanks to human intervention. Well, someone was asleep at the switch for this shipment, and it yielded some wonderful results.
The bananas I bought were hung on the banana hook on the counter. They hung there for a week, with no obvious change. So we bought some more bananas, and placed them near the green bananas to see if it would help.
We finished the newer banana bunch, but the green bananas were still green. So the green bananas were moved into a paper bag and the bag was kept closed.
Time passed. More bananas were purchased. There were daily checks on the green bananas. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Still green.
The next time we bought a bunch, we put one of the bananas inside the bag with the green bananas. The newer banana ripened. The green bananas did not.
Okay.
I was ready to give up. I started wondering if the bananas would be any good at all even if they did ripen, or if they were just going to rot without ripening.
Finally, over 3 weeks into this little banana adventure, they started to change color. A couple of them started to show signs of ripening.
They didn't ripen all at once. They ripened one by one for the most part. I ate the first one that was ripe and it was simply delicious. It had a nice texture, a bit heavier than the usual banana. The flavor was more concentrated too. It was divine!
The very last green banana (visible in the pic above) ripened over a month after the bunch was purchased.
So...Wow! I wish this would happen more often.
Bananas are harvested when they are still green, then dosed with ethylene gas once they reach their destination. Organic bananas are supposed to be exempt from this treatment, but I call BS on that because they ripen just as fast as "regular" bananas. Have I considered that they might pick them after they start to turn and are using a faster shipping method? Yes. I think they would cost a lot more if that was the case. There's not a huge difference in price between regular and organic. Anyway, if you know of a grocer who sources their bananas from a smaller banana trader that doesn't use ethylene gas, instead of one of the huge international companies...do tell!
We used to have a grove of banana trees, but someone got a wild hair one day and cut all of them down (and dug up the rest). I don't know the specifics anymore, but I do miss the trees, because at least we'd have homegrown bananas from time to time. Looks like it's time to find some again.
If you're interested, this link to the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has some interesting banana facts & figures.
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| Unaltered Photo of Men Hauling Bananas With a Bike in Uganda Emesik, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
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