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trinity082482
10-18-2007, 08:50 PM
Some information that I thought I would share with newbies. :)
I was sitting in the car on a trip out of town and I thought to my self.. if a banana is organic.. how does it ripen without chemicals... and I asked my spouse who was driving and he said I dunno. Good question. So I looked it up and voila! My answer....

Why is Ethylene approved for ripening organic bananas?

Ethylene is a natural occurring gas and it's synthetic version is identical. Ethylene is approved by the organic regulations in North America, Canada, The European community, Japan, etc. Ethylene when injected in a ripening chamber with pallets of green bananas will trigger the ripening process of the bananas,... just as what happens in nature on the tree or in the field. It can be considered artificial only in the sense that the bananas which are harvested young and thus green are put in contact with the gas by men in a chamber. The process itself and resulting transformation of starch in to sugars is exactly the same as in nature. If bananas would be harvested ripe from the tree and thus yellow they would not be able to travel to the markets without becoming puree during the journey, rot, attract fruit flies, become vinegar, etc.


Good to know :o

Shell
10-18-2007, 09:13 PM
Hmm, that's interesting info, trinity! I bought a bunch of organic bananas a few weeks ago, and they must not have been "treated" because 2 weeks after I bought them, they were STILL GREEN!!! I mean, really green! No yellow whatsoever! :confused:

LearningDaily
10-18-2007, 11:11 PM
You're really supposed to pick bananas off the plant when they are green. A ripe banana will emit ethylene, so if you want to ripen a bunch of green bananas you are supposed to put then in a plastic bag along with one ripe one. After a day the green nanners will produce their own.