Its time to go bananas again! I was rather impatiently, and with a little apprehension – the fondness of bugs for my fruits has been all too evident in the past - waiting for the bananas to ripen.
Fruits are arguably the best thing that comes out of a garden. One can buy a whole bunch of bananas in the market but it is not a patch on a single one produced in your backyard.
After all it is not without reason that most of the anecdotes allude to these wonderful gifts [fruits] of nature. Have we ever heard of, ‘reaping the flowers of one’s labor?’ Or may be, ‘tasting the sweet vegetables of success?’ quite obviously these altered proverbs don’t cut any ice with logic.
Finally ripen they did. When the bunch of this, potentially creamy, juicy, but now raw green fruit showed slight roundening of borders, I knew that the time was ripe to free the bunch from the branch.
Now, here was the catchy part as I had to invest in a kilo of apples from the fruit vendor so that I could put one of those apples with my beautiful bunch to enable ripening. The acetylene gas, which is liberated in whole sale by the apple, helps ripen the bananas quickly.
The banana bunch, with the apple, are put in a bucket and covered nicely with a newspaper…
Lo and behold! Rich, sweet, creamy, healthy, power packed, absolutely homegrown(but for the solitary apple), bananas are ready…
Fruits are arguably the best thing that comes out of a garden. One can buy a whole bunch of bananas in the market but it is not a patch on a single one produced in your backyard.
After all it is not without reason that most of the anecdotes allude to these wonderful gifts [fruits] of nature. Have we ever heard of, ‘reaping the flowers of one’s labor?’ Or may be, ‘tasting the sweet vegetables of success?’ quite obviously these altered proverbs don’t cut any ice with logic. 
Finally ripen they did. When the bunch of this, potentially creamy, juicy, but now raw green fruit showed slight roundening of borders, I knew that the time was ripe to free the bunch from the branch.
Now, here was the catchy part as I had to invest in a kilo of apples from the fruit vendor so that I could put one of those apples with my beautiful bunch to enable ripening. The acetylene gas, which is liberated in whole sale by the apple, helps ripen the bananas quickly.
The banana bunch, with the apple, are put in a bucket and covered nicely with a newspaper…
Lo and behold! Rich, sweet, creamy, healthy, power packed, absolutely homegrown(but for the solitary apple), bananas are ready…
19 comments:
GT I used to wrap my bananas in newspaper then put them in a box and place in a dark cupboard. Well after a few times doing that and forgetting, only to find rotted bananas when I'd finally remembered, I have decided to put them in my fruit tray to ripen from now on. My great grandfather used to grow bananas for export on his nutmeg estate. He had a banana hut where he would use for ripening bananas for home use. The bananas would hang from the rafters by large hooks and as children when visiting, we would sneak in and steal the ripe bananas.
That is a great harvest! I know my husband would love it if we could grow bananas like that here.
I am sure nothing can taste as good as what you grow yourself. And I'm learning new stuff everyday- had no idea that the apple could help ripen the bananas!
What a huge bunch of bananas! For ripening, I wrap up the bunch of bananas in an old bed sheet and leave it in a corner of the kitchen. Using an apple is a new thing I learnt now.
Fantastic!
Thank you so much for the information and demonstration. Fascinating stuff on your bananas.How wonderful to be able to pick your own.
That's a new one for me too. Do you do this apple-banana party every time you harvest your banana crop, GT?
I normally leave the bunch on the tree for a couple more days till the ribs on the sides of the fruit have almost smoothened out. Then it is cut down and hung up on an iron angle that's been fixed to a wall just for this purpose. Or it's cut into smaller 'hands' and spread out on a newspaper-lined counter. Bananas continue ripening even after being harvested so I don't treat it in any special way.
The advantage of cutting it into separate hands is that the ripening is staggered over several days.
@islandgal- Hi Helen! you have had amusing experiences with bananas. Exporting Bananas! Wow, it must have been so exciting to see bananas all around!
@Sweet Bay- Hi dear! I guess these are the sweet fruits for suffering a tropical weather.
@Sujata- Hi Sujata. Life, and blogging in particular, is a learning experience everyday. In fact I got the idea of using apples to ripen bananas from an internet site only.
@Lotusleaf- I guess using apples only expedites what you could have had by leaving the bunch wrapped in a corner.
@Darla- Yes it is!
@hocking hills gardener- thanks for visiting. it is always a good feeling to grow your own fruit, vegetable or even a cactus. But if you can eat what you have grown, it feels like an icing on the cake.
@sunita- Well, it was a new one for me too. I like what you said, but don't you think having an apple-banana party makes the whole thing so much more romantic:-)
P.S- There are many sites on web which advocate the use of apple to hasten the ripening of bananas for home use, and the effect of liberated ethylene gas sounds fairly logical too.
How wonderful to grow your own bananas! I am so glad to know the apple trick ... always just put the green ones in a bag. I confess to still buying bananas because I need the potassium they have... I only buy organic and fair trade however... from small farms ... never would a Dole make it into my kitchen. I go without if my coop only offers that corp. fruit. I love the flower dangling and I like your proverbs. Lovely post and photos! Carol
I had plenty of bananas from my trees in the last two weeks, unfortunate the ripen at the same time
Love the fresh bananas! The taste is so wonderful. Your tree is so lush!
Awesome!! what an amazing post! I really enjoyed that! Excellent!
Congratulation Green Thumb for the wonderful bunch of bananas... first time I see bananas from one´s backyard!!! how great!!
Cariños
María Cecilia
Hi GT,
That's a lovely harvest of bananas. And the trick with the apple and banana is just great will try it out sometime.
Lucky lucky you! Am all J.
*Urban Green is going to head home in a huff unless Green Thumb hands her a part of the harvest*
It seems so exotic to me that you can grow bananas! Wow!
I love your new header, dear Green Thumb :)
I am over-awed that you can grow bananas...everything about them seems so exotic to me :)
Fantastic! love the fresh bananas!.. The taste is so wonderful...
India has the largest banana species diversity in the world, and luckily Indians consume a lot of bananas so all the different varieties still thrive. That's the reason why you can see all sizes of bananas in India, and all kinds of sweetness. Unlike in other countries, where just one kind of banana is grown, harvest and sold, we really should appreciate our diversity and never let these dozens of varieties die out. I hope you can buy some small bananas from south India and plant them too. my sister and i love your blog. Please eat more bananas.
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