Tuesday’s Tip with The Kitchen Whisperer – How to quickly ripen bananas

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Happy Tuesday TKW Family! It’s time for Tuesday’s Tip with The Kitchen Whisperer and today I’m going to share with you my secret on how to quickly ripen bananas. So in my house there is a very, VERY thin line on where we agree on the ripeness of a banana. I prefer my banana to be firmer with a tinge or so of green on it where Mr. Fantabulous loves his bright yellow with no green nor brown spots. Therefore when we buy bananas we are always at odds over this. I buy them more on the greener side as they will ripen between 24-48 hours to the point he will then eat them. However he wants to buy them when they are already ripe which means we are stuck with eating a bunch of bananas in a day or two.

Yeah, not cool man. So with that we’re always left with over ripe bananas by the end of the week. Now I’ve shared with a ton of ways to use up those leftover bananas but what happens when you’re craving my skinny baked banana chip cookies and there are only green or yellow bananas in the house or store? Well never fear as I’m about to blow your mind (and allow you to satisfy your cookie craving!

Bananas are ripened due to a hormone called ethylene. Ethylene breaks down complex sugars into simple sugars and breaks down pectin. Pectin is what keeps your bananas firm. In addition there are hormones that break down green pigments which you see in unripe bananas and replace them with yellow pigments. However as the banana continues to ripen these yellow pigments are broken down and not replaced at all thus producing the brown color. This is pretty similar to the how leaves change in the Fall. When banana peels develop little brown spots, known as “honey spots,” the fruit inside is usually perfectly ripe.

And that is your science lesson for today folks *wink*. So how do you do it? Now you can do it in the microwave but I HATE the way they turn out. It’s just wrong (and yes I just made the icky face).

→ Preheat your oven to 300F and the rack in the middle.
→ Line a rimmed cookie sheet/pan with parchment paper (yes you’ll want to line the pan as they will leak out a bit).
→ Take your unripe bunch of bananas and separate them.
→ Lay them down on the pan with a bit of space between them.
→ Place the pan in the oven and roast for 35-40 minutes or until the peels turn black and shiny.
→ Remove from the oven and allow the bananas to cool to room temperature (about 40-45 minutes).
→ Once they are cooled just use them in your favorite banana recipe!