Bananas

When buying bananas, look for ones that:

• Are firm and unripe with a light green or green-yellow hue
• Have no bruises
• Are not completely green
• Do not have dull or gray peels

Bananas are best purchased unripe and allowed to ripen at home for three or four days. Ripe bananas are delicate, do not ship well, and may have bruises or damage under their peels that you won’t see in the store. Avoid unripe bananas with a dark green hue, however, because that means they may begin to deteriorate before ripening. Avoid bananas with dull or gray peels because that means they may have been exposed to cold temperatures and might not ripen properly.

As long as they are firm and not completely green, bananas do not need to perfectly meet all the criteria above to be edible or usable in a recipe. The closer they are to meeting these guidelines, however, the higher their quality should be.

Notes

Some grocers offer their unsold ripened bananas, which are great for baked goods, at a discount. This can be an excellent way of stretching your grocery dollar but you typically need to eat them, bake with them, or freeze them immediately (as in that day). Look for ripe bananas with small brown specs on the peel because they will likely be the most flavorful. Avoid ripe bananas with bruises or damage.

When you get your bananas home

Store your bananas at room temperature while they ripen.  You can tell if a banana is ripe if it has a golden yellow peel and the stem is easy to break for peeling.  Ripe bananas are usually their most flavorful when little brown specks start to appear on the peel. While bananas are sensitive to cold temperatures and should never be refrigerated, ripe bananas can be frozen for baking, smoothies, and banana “ice cream,” among other things. The peel of a frozen banana will turn black, but the fruit inside should be fine.