Why does fruit ripen faster in a paper bag?
A Cecil column quotes the Chiquita Banana website as saying
Do fruits give off gasses because they’re still alive, or because they’re rotting? How do the gasses quicken the ripening process? What’s with the tomato? Why not a plastic bag?
The bag traps ethylene gas released by the fruit. Ethylene speeds the ripening process. This commercial Ethylene FAQs covers the use of ethylene as a ripening agent.
Yup, that pretty much answers it all. Thanks, Squink!
Because it’s shy…
I just have to throw this in:
I told my husband he should put the pears he bought in a paper bag. I told him it would ripen more quickly in the dark.
He smiled at me like I was his five year old daughter and described what is actually going on.
Wasn’t there something like this with a storage (I forget what was being stored/ripened) that was lit with kerosene lamps. Then when they ‘industialized’ they used modern lamps. The new lamps didn’t work because what was ripening the stuff was actually a by-product of the lamps. I wish I could remember what was going on.
It was probably acetylene or carbide, lamps. Acetylene gas produces the same ripening effect as ethylene.
ok so now i know it’s the gasses that make the fruit ripen faster…but why does it do that in a paper bag and not a plastic one? there are still gasses aren’t there, no matter what small space you put it in…
I’d guess it’s because the practice started before plastic bags were invented or at least ubiquitous. A lot of people continue with paper bags since they don’t know it’s the gas and assume it’s the dark, or maybe even that it’s the paper somehow.
You could always go by a bunch of bananas, then take one and place it in a paper bag and another in a clear plastic bag and record which ripens more quickly. I’d recommend to eat the remaining bananas or make a nice banana nut cake and send it to me.
“I’d recommend to eat the remaining bananas or make a nice banana nut cake and send it to me.”
As if the SDMB doesn’t have enough “nut cakes” on a daily basis!:rolleyes:
Being from the lower end of the west coast, we were always taught to put unripe avacados in paper bags in the dark to ripen. Since moving to the opposite corner of the continent, our avacadoes are usually larger, harder, a different shade of green, and not as much flavor. Putting them in a paper bag just seems to make them rot, rather than ripen. Why would this be?
That just seems to be the nature of the Florida Avocado:
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/01600686.html
The paper bag treatment works for both types, it’s just trickier with the smooth skinned variety.
This is from Squink’s first link:
Also, I’m guessing a plastic bag would be more likely to form condensation and, subsequently, mold.