what is the chemical substance which destroyed my banana ?

[fresh]

I bought a bunch of half-ripe banana. 6 days later, it still looked not ripe enough to eat, so i waited for another 3 days. It didnt change at all. I finally ran out of my patience and peeled one and took a bite. it tasted nasty and raw. what i did with the rest was to dump it.

I guess the sellers put some chemical into it to make it last longer. unfortunately, it destroyed the fruit and it will never become ripe in a natural way.

what is that chemical they use ?

thanks.

[swansont]

You had unripened bananas and they tasted nasty? Isn't the fact that they had not ripened yet enough reason for a bad taste?

[Enthalpy]

What I've heard is that mass-produced bananas are picked very early, transported green, ane they "ripen" in the port of the consuming country with ethylene.

I dare to doubt that ethylene on cut fruit has the full effect of light on the fruit under the tree... But the alternative is to have the tree in your garden. Once I ate a mango picked ripe minutes before: the difference is astounding.

[swansont]

What I've heard is that mass-produced bananas are picked very early, transported green, ane they "ripen" in the port of the consuming country with ethylene.

Yes, this also happens naturally. Bananas and apples, at least, ripen this way. Further, they give off more ethylene as the become ripe, so there is a feedback effect, and once one ripens they all tend to ripen quickly. Which is why one rotten apple spoils the bunch.

 

Commercial warehouses have multiple rooms, each with different levels of ripeness, and they add the ethylene as they want the fruit to ripen and be taken to market. The ones in storage where they want to delay ripening are also exposed to higher humidity, which impedes the ripening. You can speed up ripening by putting your bananas in a paper bag; I think this keeps the ethylene in and lets the water out. I've done this (with a control sample, of course) and it works. Plastic doesn't do it as effectively.

[CharonY]

Is it possible that you got plantains?

[fresh]

You had unripened bananas and they tasted nasty? Isn't the fact that they had not ripened yet enough reason for a bad taste?

No. it is not something which delays its ripening but stops its ripening, . and it tastes it will never become ripe.

Is it possible that you got plantains?

No.

[Phi for All]

I bought a bunch of half-ripe banana. 6 days later, it still looked not ripe enough to eat, so i waited for another 3 days. It didnt change at all. I finally ran out of my patience and peeled one and took a bite. it tasted nasty and raw. what i did with the rest was to dump it.

I guess the sellers put some chemical into it to make it last longer. unfortunately, it destroyed the fruit and it will never become ripe in a natural way.

what is that chemical they use ?

thanks.

 

It makes no sense that the sellers would permit something to be put on the fruit that would end up making them taste bad. It's more likely that you got a bad batch.

 

I don't think the seller could stay in business more than a week or two if all his clients complain that their fruit looked good but tasted terrible.

[fresh]

 

It makes no sense that the sellers would permit something to be put on the fruit that would end up making them taste bad. It's more likely that you got a bad batch.

 

I don't think the seller could stay in business more than a week or two if all his clients complain that their fruit looked good but tasted terrible.

They sell other fruits also, not only banana. it is possible that batch got problem. and it doesnt rule out the possibility of putting any chemical unknown to us.

what chemical makes banana half-raw ?

[CharonY]

I am also unaware of chemicals with that properties. Only recently a coating was proposed that would delay rotting, but the standard way is to increase/restrict access to ethylene. But from your description your taste changes only in ripeness and is not indicative of the use of some mystery chemicals.

 

There are several ways to increase or slow the ripening process, e.g. sealing them in a bag, add pear or apple etc, so the ripening time will be also dependent on the way you store them. To me, 9 days starting from a green banana does not sound terribly odd.

[fresh]

I am also unaware of chemicals with that properties. Only recently a coating was proposed that would delay rotting, but the standard way is to increase/restrict access to ethylene. But from your description your taste changes only in ripeness and is not indicative of the use of some mystery chemicals.

 

There are several ways to increase or slow the ripening process, e.g. sealing them in a bag, add pear or apple etc, so the ripening time will be also dependent on the way you store them. To me, 9 days starting from a green banana does not sound terribly odd.

I just put it on the table without any container. let it breathe freely.

what is the average time for a half-ripe banana to become ripe ?

half-ripe banana feels too firm after 9 days ! how come ?

[Danijel Gorupec]

Just observation... maybe it was not a chemical, but fungi gave the bad taste to your bananas. I guess that fungi can attack even non-ripened bananas... Why no ripening occured after such a long time, I have no idea - not sure if fungi can generate such effect.

[CharonY]

Was it an individual banana or a bunch? I also wanted to point out that according to OP the taste was not off, just apparently not the ripeness as expected.

Also, was it exposed to sunlight and at which temperature? Also was the banana still green when bought? Most bananas are usually ripened past that point, i.e. they are sold while still firm, but should not have a strong raw taste to them. In ripening chambers the process takes about a week (from green to early ripeness). However, there the bananas are stacked in close proximity and exposed to defined doses of ethylene.

Keeping them individually and unconfined will delay the ripening process (as they emit ethylene themselves).

Obviously, if you really are interested, you would have to conduct some more experiments and monitor the results more closely as categories such as "too firm" are usually not terribly helpful.

[John Cuthber]

I ate part of a banana which I knew wasn't ripe.

It wasn't very nice.

Rather than accept that I made an error of judgement in eating it, I am going to make up some unreasonable tale where the shopkeeper (or whoever) did something which would be technically very difficult and which would mean that they got a bad reputation and lost sales.

 

WTF?

[Phi for All]

It could be that your bananas are super fresh and just take longer to ripen. It could be like the difference between fresh laid eggs and store-bought. We had a friend with chickens and we weren't even supposed to start refrigerating the eggs for at least a week after we'd gotten them. They were incredibly fresh and we just weren't used to how long we could keep them.

 

Do you grow bananas where you are? Could it be that they are just fresher than what one might get at a store where the food has been shipped from another country?

[Ayesha]

I think bananas were not getting the appropriate conditions for their ripening and after some days instead of ripening they turned black.As bananas are best ripened in a bit warmer weather so I think you could not provide the best environment.I have experienced growing bananas in my home but it was not a good experience because I could not provide the optimum conditions for their ripening.In my case bananas were too much mushy and their peels were almost brown and most of my bananas were wasted.So it is difficult to get best ripened bananas in your home untill you can provide the same conditions as the sellers do to get good ripened bananas.

[swansont]

Was it an individual banana or a bunch? I also wanted to point out that according to OP the taste was not off, just apparently not the ripeness as expected.

He said it tasted nasty and raw.

 

Ripening turns the starch into sugar. I have yet to see anything that is inconsistent with the banana simply not being ripe.

[Enthalpy]

I ate [...] I knew [...] I made [...] I am going [...].

 

Someone appropriates the ideas of someone else?

 

WTF?

 

It's about bananas here, not about Wikileaks.

[...]I have yet to see anything that is inconsistent with the banana simply not being ripe.

 

Maybe the original poster just wants us to invent or suggest a chemical that stops fruits from ripening. This would have obvious uses.

 

While I personally have nothing against commercial applications, I find underhand attempts to conceal the real goal ridiculous and counterproductive (though we may doubt the present thread is such one). Alas, it's becoming increasingly common on forums.

[swansont]

Maybe the original poster just wants us to invent or suggest a chemical that stops fruits from ripening. This would have obvious uses.

 

While I personally have nothing against commercial applications, I find underhand attempts to conceal the real goal ridiculous and counterproductive (though we may doubt the present thread is such one). Alas, it's becoming increasingly common on forums.

There's no evidence of that, either. I'm not a fan of assuming motivations, particularly devious one, and especially when simple curiosity about some bit of science is still a very strong possibility.

[Enthalpy]

Agreed! It's just a heavy trend on forums.

[fresh]

sorry, i forget to add an information, the banana's skin is yellow from the first day i bought to the last day i dumped it. and it is a bunch of banana... and i kept it on my table. no container, no bag.

it feels firm so i think it is half raw.

i agree with Swansont, Enthalpy thinks too much ...

Edited August 7, 2013 by fresh

[CharonY]

Ripening turns the starch into sugar. I have yet to see anything that is inconsistent with the banana simply not being ripe.

 

Agreed. The primary conversion is starch to sucrose btw (yeah sugar is often used to refer to non-polysaccharides, but somehow it I always feel that it is slightly sloppy when used in metabolic contexts... sorry for that)

 

On a different note, it is slightly surprising how many papers exist that measure changes in bananas during induced ripening.

[fresh]

http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2011/10/12/fruit-ripening-how-does-it-work/

 

" A more productive method of inhibiting ripening is to inhibit ethylene perception. This can be done by gassing the molecules with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP). 1-MCP binds tightly to the ethylene receptor and blocking the effects of ethylene (competitive antagonist). 1-MCP is sold commerically as SmartFresh and is approved and accepted for use in more than 34 countries (including the EU and US). It is used in the fruit industry to prevent premature ripening, but it is also used in the horticultural industry to maintain the freshness of ornamental flowers. While there are benefits to consumers (fresher produce, lower cost due to increase supply), some have concerns that consumers may be purchasing fruit older than expected.

 

Current practice for longer-term fruit storage includes cold temperatures and charcoal scrubbing of the atmosphere to absorb ethylene and keep the concentration of ethylene very low..."

 

It explains some of my puzzles, but not all, what makes my banana taste bad and feel so firm ? it is still unknown...

Edited August 9, 2013 by fresh

[John Cuthber]

 

 

 

 

It explains some of my puzzles, but not all, what makes my banana taste bad and feel so firm ? it is still unknown...

You haven't yet ruled out "because it wasn't ripe yet" as an answer and, before you go speculating about ethylene antagonists, you really need to rule out the obvious answer.

If you hear hoof-beats it's more sensible to expect to see horses than unicorns.

[daphne2013]

I think the seller maybe used this substance - Ethephon to ripening the bananas but the dosage is too little.

[John Cuthber]

I think the seller maybe used this substance - Ethephon to ripening the bananas but the dosage is too little.

Maybe they sprinkled it with fairy dust, but there's no reason to think anything other that the banana wasn't ripe yet.