Ask Professor Produce

What has been happening with organic bananas lately? It seems like they're always really green or they're overripe, and sometimes there are only conventional ones!

It would seem to the average consumer that bananas, so unassuming in their self-contained yellow jackets, have no trouble finding their way from a tree somewhere hot to your hot little hand. Well, thankfully this question gives me the opportunity to burst this notion right open, like so many overripe banana peels under pressure! So I'm glad you asked.

Pound for pound, the number one selling item in any produce department is usually bananas. They are always in season and absolutely expected in any produce department worth its fruit. Perfectly ripe bananas seem abundant all the time, so when they are unavailable it can be vaguely irritating to some folks and downright unbelievable to others. But we are dealing with a tropical crop here, and it might surprise you to know that selling bananas is practically a science, replete with temperature gauges, critical timing, special equipment and specific terminology.

It can be a challenge to coordinate the ripening of a fruit; the wild, organic things of nature don't follow schedules quite as dutifully as we might wish. When bananas arrive from our distributors (who have already received the bananas from locales like Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, et al), they are virtually grass green and completely unpalatable. These are then exposed briefly to ethylene gas, which is a naturally occurring substance that most fruits release as they ripen. Bananas are wrapped in plastic film within their boxes that helps to keep the gas relatively contained. This in turn helps to speed along and even out the ripening process. Ideally, within a few days in a warming room where temperatures are maintained between 51-55 degrees, they will reach "breaker" status, appearing mostly yellow but with slightly green ends. This is the preferred stage for purchase by you, the consumer.

This winter has been a bit of a challenge because with increased demand for organic bananas at Co-op Partners Warehouse, and no specific warming room in place there, sometimes these processes get pushed a bit and we end up with very green bananas as the only available option. Other times bananas might arrive at the warehouse riper than expected due to any number of delays along the way, and so bananas might end up overripe or spotted without a saleable alternative. There will soon be some remodeling at the warehouse that includes space to ripen bananas, and this should help improve the smoothness of the entire banana operation around here.

If you do purchase green bananas, you can simulate the perfect warming room yourself simply by keeping your bananas in a closed plastic bag somewhere warm for a day or two. They should ripen beautifully. When all supplies are exhausted, as they were briefly this winter, we do bring in conventionally-grown bananas. There is so much member demand for the fruit in any form that this has proven to be worthwhile.

Sorry for any inconveniences you've experienced with bananas lately. But when things run smoothly, we never have the opportunity to consider how marvelous it really is to have tropical fruit in the heart of winter. This kind of food for thought is almost as valuable as the fruit you might have eaten, isn't it?