# Why does fruit ripen faster in a paper bag? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872 "2002-07-26T03:23:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/1 "2002-07-26T03:23:31Z")
Why does fruit ripen faster in a paper bag? ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/2 "2002-07-26T03:40:48Z")
A [Cecil column](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbanana.html) quotes the Chiquita Banana website as saying > [@](#): > > “To ripen the banana faster, seal it in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight. This allows the natural gases in the fruits to speed up the ripening when combined in a dark place.” 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? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/3 "2002-07-26T03:57:58Z")
The bag traps ethylene gas released by the fruit. [Ethylene speeds the ripening process](http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/plants_human/fruitgrowripe.html). This commercial [Ethylene FAQs](http://www.catalyticgenerators.com/whatisethylene.html) covers the use of ethylene as a ripening agent. > [@](#): > > Ethylene can promote ripening in tomatoes, bananas, citrus, pineapples, dates, persimmons, pears, apples, melons, mangos, avocados, papayas and jujubes ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/4 "2002-07-26T04:05:34Z")
Yup, that pretty much answers it all. Thanks, Squink! ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/5 "2002-07-26T16:06:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peasea \* > \*\*Why does fruit ripen faster in a paper bag? \*\* Because it’s shy… ---
**Author:** ![Jorel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jorel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorel)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/6 "2002-07-26T16:43:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/7 "2002-07-26T19:20:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Wasn’t there something like this with a storage (I forget what was being stored/ripened) that was lit with kerosene lamps. It was probably acetylene or carbide, lamps. [Acetylene gas produces the same ripening effect as ethylene.](http://library.wustl.edu/~listmgr/devel-l/Jan2000/0007.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/8 "2002-07-27T23:02:13Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/9 "2002-07-27T23:12:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sivalensis \* > \*\*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. ---
**Author:** ![TwoBuyFour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/76d3ee/32.png) [@TwoBuyFour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoBuyFour)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/10 "2002-07-28T00:08:16Z")
“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? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/11 "2002-07-28T01:16:29Z")
> [@](#): > > 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: > [@](#): > > At full ripeness, the California avocado is not quite as perishable as the fully ripened Florida fruit. A very ripe, unbruised California avocado usually cuts fine and shows no discoloration. A very ripe, unbruised Florida avocado sometimes cuts dark. [http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/01600686.html](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. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-fruit-ripen-faster-in-a-paper-bag/120872/12 "2002-07-28T14:42:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sivalensis \* > \*\*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… \*\* This is from Squink’s first link: > [@](#): > > The paper bag holds the ethylene in stagnant air around the fruits, yet allows oxygen to go into the bag for respiration in the fruits…needed to make the enzymes! Also, I’m guessing a plastic bag would be more likely to form condensation and, subsequently, mold.