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View Full Version : Ripening bananas on the plant - less tasty ?


John48
05-16-2015, 08:42 PM
If you ripen the bananas on the plant will they become less tasty ?
I have built some wire cages that enclose the bunches.
This is for pest exclusion - the idea was to allow ripening on the plant and gradual harvest.
But now I have read somewhere that they taste better when picked semi green and ripened after picking.

John48
05-17-2015, 08:21 PM
I was basing this query on just one statement -
"When left on the plant too long, the fruit tends to split open and become tasteless"
Banana facts you didn't know (http://www.members.tripod.com/Howtuz/banana.html)

I had always assumed that plant ripened fruit were superior,
and that green harvesting was just a commercial necessity.
And I have found some references agreeing with this.

Although both flavor and texture of "tree-ripened" bananas is generally regarded as superior to any type of green-picked fruit,
this reduces shelf life to only 7–10 days.
Banana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana#Ripening)

Tree ripened bananas, like any fruit or vegetable allowed to ripen naturally, are much sweeter and also don’t have that almost unreal yellow color to them. They tend to be a duller yellow, with brown speckles on them.
How To Grow Banana Trees In Your Off The Grid Garden | Off The Grid News (http://www.offthegridnews.com/survival-gardening-2/how-to-grow-banana-trees-in-your-off-the-grid-garden/)

So I will continue trying to ripen on the plant.

sandy0225
05-20-2015, 06:43 AM
we just pick ours as they ripen. here in Indiana they don't all ripen at once, so we get an extended harvest with 3-5 bananas usually every couple of days. and they definitely aren't tasteless, so don't believe that. I think they just pick them green for shipping like tomatoes and you know what that does to the flavor of tomatoes!

John48
05-20-2015, 07:47 AM
we just pick ours as they ripen.

Thanks, yes thats what I plan to do to.
It was probably a silly question of mine to start with, based a dodgy article.
I now firmly believe plant ripened fruit are better.
I had my first backyard grown banana in a while, today and it was so tasty.
And its so nice to just pick a few at a time as needed.