Keep my boss from losing his bananas.

[Echo_X]

Will this work?

 

If we get a plastic bin from Malmart and put a strip of weather sealer around the top lip so it creates a relatively weather tight seal.. And place our accursed bananas into this bin, with a couple of extra large desiccant gel packs taped to the inside of the lid? Or does ambient humidity and/or air temperature play any part in how long these flavorless yellow pieces of junk last?

 

My theory is that part of it is humidity, the other part of it is that fruits do put off a nasty little chemical that increases the rate at which they ripen.

 

So I figure this. Take a drill and core out 4 2.5"-3" holes, one on each of the fore flat edges of the bin. Cover these "vents" with a furnace filter or thin wire mesh. Place two desiccant packs at the bottom, and two wire draining racks, turned upside down above them. This is where you sit your bananas. To the top of the the bin, you core out two large hols, large enough to fit two small or medium sized fans. You place the fans so that the exhaust is facing up, which will pull air in through the bottom, up through the bananas, and out through the lid. This because blowing air against the bananas would likely have detrimental effects. To the inside of the lid. we attach a small basket which also contains desiccant packs. This should keep the bananas thoroughly dry and air circulating without them being blasted or being overly dehydrated.

 

Anybody think it would work?

[mk_378]

What happened to not buying so many so you can eat them all before they become over-ripe? And if that doesn't work, make banana bread.

[Bad Doctor Frost]

Losing his bananas wouldn't be half as bad as losing his nuts.

[Echo_X]

What happened to not buying so many so you can eat them all before they become over-ripe? And if that doesn't work, make banana bread.

 

We buy roughly 12-15 pounds of bananas every week. of that, half we throw away because they have spoiled. If we buy 6-7 pounds of bananas instead, we sitll throw away half, and then don't have enough bananas for our customers.

 

Losing his bananas wouldn't be half as bad as losing his nuts.

 

[road2freedom]

Is this one of your customers?

 

 

Why not just put them in large ziplocs? They need oxygen to ripen.

[iH8cra]

Are you mixing ripe bananas with green bananas? Ripe bananas emit ethylene which causes green bananas to ripen faster.

[cljohnr]

What happened to not buying so many so you can eat them all before they become over-ripe? And if that doesn't work, make banana bread.

We buy roughly 12-15 pounds of bananas every week. of that, half we throw away because they have spoiled. If we buy 6-7 pounds of bananas instead, we sitll throw away half, and then don't have enough bananas for our customers.

I believe the point it to buy them more often. Buy 3-4 pounds every other day and they'll never go bad. If you're still throwing them away, you're buying too many. I'd also say that getting so worked up over throwing away $4 of bananas probably isn't healthy.

[ElderGeek]

The problem is ethylene gas.. it's the gas that starts (and accelerates)

ripening of a number of fruits, including bananas. Bananas are usually

picked green, and "gassed" with ethylene to jump-start the ripening

process. In addition, bananas generate ethylene gas on their own to

further the ripening process.

 

Putting bananas in a sealed container is a bad thing, as the container

will develop a higher concentration of ethylene gas from the fruit, thus

hastening ripening. Even worse would be putting bananas in a close container

with other fruits, as they would add to the ethylene gas, and some fruits

produce more gas than others.

 

You can slow ripening by putting the bananas in a fridge, but it will turn

the skin brown - it will still slow the ripening/rotting of the fruit

inside.

 

Another possibility is to see if you can buy them from a vendor that

sells "ungassed" fruit, although it's not easy to find one. Most

distributors will gas the fruit to get them to start ripening prior

to sale.

 

In essence, the more airflow around the fruit, the less ethylene gas,

and the longer they will last, although I don't know if it will make

a lot of difference with over 12 pounds of fruit.

[road2freedom]

Wouldn't additional oxygen/air allow for the production of more ethelyne? Maybe try individually wrapping them in cellophane? Hmm.. I know what I'm going to suggest for my wife's class science fair project next year.

[ElderGeek]

Wouldn't additional oxygen/air allow for the production of more ethelyne? Maybe try individually wrapping them in cellophane? Hmm.. I know what I'm going to suggest for my wife's class science fair project next year.

 

 

While oxygen can stimulate ripening, the absence of oxygen will just

result in the fruit "breathing" it's own ethylene, which will cause

it to ripen faster.. the more it ripens, the more ethylene it creates,

and in turn it ripens faster. A green banana sealed in a paper bag by

itself will ripen more slowly than a green one sealed in a bag with a

fully ripe banana.. same amount of oxygen, but the abundance of

ethylene will cause the "paired" fruit to ripen/rot faster, so just

depriving oxygen won't do it.

 

Never tried storing it in a near vacuum, but it might work, although

the vacuum would have to be almost constant to draw off the generated

ethylene.. interesting science fair thought :-)

[Echo_X]

Eldergeek?....GASP! IT'S NERDTHULHU!

 

 

Anyway. I understand about the gas. I left it out but I knew about it. The point of my system here is effectively to suck air through the bananas and box, specifically DRY air. The suction should effectively pull all of the ripening hormone strait up and out faster then the bananas can emit it. A fan to suck air in through the bottom, and blow it out through the top, pushing it away from the produce. It seems like it should work.......

 

Or turn the bananas into bananajerky...

 

<EDit, other picture was better, but to big. EDITEDIT! X.X the second pic was bigger. Here. Eat bananathulu>

Edited July 6, 2012 by Echo_X

[road2freedom]

^ Hah that reminds me of a funny prank I pulled on a guy at work. He would always grab a bunch of fruit from the hotel and snack on it at work all day. I'm talking like 2-3 bananas, an apple or two, an orange... you get the idea. Anyway, one day when he stepped away I grabbed one of the bananas and "massaged" it (wow... that sounds dirty). Anyway, when you do this without peeling it, it turns the inside into complete mush. If the peel is ripe enough when you pick it up it will fall over limp. So a couple of hours later he goes for his last banana and it limps over. And he screamed - "Oh my gawd, what happened to my bananaaaaa".... hilarious.