Redaidan1169

Hello fellow banana lovers,


A friend of mine got a bit paranoid after El Niño trashed his garden (Los Angles) and gave me almost his entire harvest of ripe, still small hard and quite green bananas. My question is, do they ripen like avocados or just stay hard until they rot? They are still connected to the very thick branch and still very green after 2 weeks of sitting... Should I throw them away? Obviously I have little knowledge but I don't want to throw them away. They are not edible but they look like they could be. Help!

Ypur help is much apreciated!

Botanical_Bryce

Fry them.

siege2050

Last fall I had some green Orinoco bananas that I didn't have room to store in my house, so I just tossed them on a pile of leaves. After a few nights of freezing temps to my surprise, they ripened lol. I think some people stick them in a bucket of water, but It probably depends on how developed they are.

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Gabe15

They should ripen fine, just might take a little longer than normal. Depending on how far along they were, the flavor might not be compromised. Can you post a photo?

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Nicolas Naranja

I almost always harvest green bananas. I base my harvest time on the fullness of the fruit. I hang them in my garage. They always ripen. Now if they are really young, it may take weeks to ripen.

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Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

crazy banana

It all depends on how much they have filled in yet.
Try the following: cut a hand of bananas and put them in a brown paper bag with a few apples. The apples develop ethylene gas which in return will help to ripen the bananas quicker.
I had to harvest some pre-mature fruits due to cold weather in mid-December. They finally show some change in color. They may never taste as good as summer fruits ripened on the plant, but at least I have bananas to eat now in January.

merce3

when you say cold weather, do you mean frost/freezing temps? we're supposed to dip into the upper-40s to low-50s next week and i have some bananas that are filled but haven't changed color yet. looks like they should any day, but i like to know that they are ready for sure by waiting.

will low temperatures harm the fruit this late in the game? we have been in the 80s pretty consistently other than the last week or two.

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crazy banana

@ Merce: Yes, we have been in the low 30s F a few times in the early morning hours. Twice it went down to 28 F.
Temperatures in that range are not good for bananas. If your bunches are filled in enough and you expect temperatures to drop similar to mine, I would harvest and hang the bunch in the garage to ripen.
I know that there are controversial opinions about a bunch filling in properly if the leaves of the plant get damaged or even killed by cold temperatures, but I have seen it happen and the fruits were still good. Most of those bunches I had bagged up though.
Whatever you decide, good luck.