Isn't it easy for bananas to rot when hung?

Bananas are tropical fruits and are afraid of cold. . . . . . So you can't put it in the refrigerator, it will turn black and rot as soon as you put it.

There is a joke. When a banana is bought home, it is hung up immediately. It thinks that it is still on the tree and will not rot for a long time. Otherwise, why do you often see fruit shops hanging bananas?

Some people say that bananas should be placed on their stomach-head and tail on the ground, suspended in the middle, and lying there in an arch shape. It is said that it can slow down the growth of banana black spots, and the effect is better if it is wrapped with plastic wrap.

can bananas really be stored for a longer time when they are lying on their stomach and hanging? Curious gentleman, of course, wants to speak with experiments.

We use three bunches of bananas with the same picking time for comparison

Three bunches of bananas are divided into six parts. One banana was wrapped in plastic wrap and arched on the table, and the other banana was placed on the table without plastic wrap. For comparison, we divided the remaining four bananas into two groups, one was laid flat on the table, and the other was hung on the wall. Both groups of bananas are wrapped in plastic wrap and not wrapped.

the next day, there was no obvious change in six bananas.

on the third day, all bananas without plastic wrap showed dark spots, even bananas lying on their stomach and hanging were not spared. The bananas in the plastic wrap seem to have no signs of long spots.

On the fourth day, all bananas wrapped with plastic wrap were much better than those without plastic wrap. All bananas without plastic wrap had black spots and looked ripe.

from the point of view of spots, the banana covered with plastic wrap hanging has the least spots, while the banana covered with plastic wrap lying prone has begun to rot. It seems that plastic wrap is king, and the effect of hanging and lying down is not good. Comparatively speaking, hanging is a little better.

is plastic wrap really that good? The answer is no. When you open it, the banana looks fresh, but it's rotten inside.

Ying Tiejin, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition of Zhejiang University, said that banana rot is related to a gas called ethylene. Ethylene can ripen bananas, but when they are overcooked, they turn black and go bad. Bananas themselves are constantly producing ethylene gas, so the best way to reduce the influence of ethylene on bananas is to let the ethylene gas run away quickly and not stick to bananas.

Plastic wrap can keep the banana moist, but if it is wrapped with plastic wrap for a long time, the banana will rot faster, because its ethylene will accumulate in it and it is not easy to spread out.

Professor Ying said that hanging and lying on one's stomach all seem to provide a better ventilation environment for bananas and make ethylene disperse faster, which makes sense in principle. But why is the actual effect not ideal?

This is because the banana used in the experiment is ripe, and its storage time is very limited when the weather is hot. Besides ethylene, there are other factors: the cells of banana peel are rich in phenolic substances. After the banana skin is damaged, it stimulates the oxidation of polyphenols and generates catechol melanin through a series of reactions, so the banana turns black, and the invasion of microorganisms will also accelerate the banana turning black.

compared with the ventilated environment, the effect of temperature control is much better. Bananas produce the slowest ethylene at 13℃-14℃. In the country of origin of bananas, green bananas are usually picked when they are 7-8% mature, and then transported to the place of sale by long distance. They must be put into the banana house, that is, the constant temperature warehouse at 13℃-14℃. If bananas are still green before sale, vendors have to artificially make ethylene to ripen bananas and sell as much as possible. Most of the bananas we bought were artificially ripened.

PS: Please feel free to eat bananas! The "ethephon" used to ripen bananas is a plant hormone, which is only effective for plants and has no effect on animals. What we should really worry about is that if we feed livestock and poultry with animal hormones, then ...