Never buy less than 5 bananas

I had a boss who insisted that 5 bananas was the optimum number. As it turned out, he was "bananas".

I like bananas and they are a good source of Potassium but I can't eat them fast enough before they become overripe and have to be tossed out.

Even if I buy them completely green, it seems that the desert heat ripens them within a day or so and they become useless for anything but making banana bread.

Does anyone in colder climates have the same problem?

Try keeping them in your frig and bring them out one or two at a time for eating. OMHO cold bananas have no aste...so let them come up to room temp prior to eating. I do this and they do seem to last longer.

Just the opposite for me. I buy 10 or more at a time and eat one or two a day. And I buy organic bananas. I'm not into organic everything, just bananas. They actually ripen faster since regular non-organic bananas are treated with preservatives; or so I was told.

But it's still pretty cool here so far, 64 outside, 70 inside. As we get some warmer weather, IF we get some warmer weather, I'll cut down on the number I buy.

I never have liked refrigerating bananas. They seem to not last very well. Maybe I just have always left them too long in the fridge.

I've found that if the bananas get too cold the skin turns black really fast. I try to keep them separated from the frozen stuff in the grocery store for that reason.

I have always been told to not put them in a refrigerator. Or have the bananas touching anything.

Therea are these banana stand things that hold them up by the stems.

If your bananas overripen make some Banana bread!

I should buy one of those banana stand thingies. Mine usually ripen in an uneven pattern, the back ones first (the ones that the bunch is resting on). Same thing happens in the grocery store for the same reason.

By the way, I used to get really bad leg cramps at night. But ever since I started eating a banana a day, the cramps suddenly stopped. Starting the very same night as my first banana! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

By the way Marty, your avatar is creeping me out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

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PhotonWrangler said:
By the way Marty, your avatar is creeping me out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

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I'll look for a new one.

I've found that the fridge turns them black quickly, too. If I'm in a banana mood, I'll buy 3#s from Costco or Sam's for 99¢. If I buy just a few in the grocery store, I'll buy a few near ripe and a few that are green.

I like mine fairly ripe as long as they're not mushy.

If you don't want to make banana bread, try to catch them just before they turn mushy, peel 'em, cut 'em in half, wrap each piece in wax paper and put 'em in the freezer. You've got the best, most nutritious popsicles ever.

I think bananas make kiwis ripen faster. Or maybe it is the other way around. Or some other fruit. Anyway, I keep my bananas separate from the other fruits.

The way I heard it, it's apples that give off some kind of gas that makes other fruit ripen (and go bad) faster. I keep my apples separate from the rest.

Drizzle is right, if I remember corectly it's ethylene gas that is produced by the apples. If you place your bananas in a paper bag with an apple, the banans will ripen faster. Large commercial fruit growers use ethylene gas on their fruits so they ripen faster than normal.

eat bananas on the bottom of the bunch first!