Gas chamber: bananas are brought in green and processed before sale

Surely many have heard that ethylene gas is used to artificially ripen tomatoes and some fruits. But it turns out that absolutely all the bananas that fall on the shelves of domestic stores go through the procedure of carbonation, or artificial ripening, since they bring them to us completely green.

Most bananas coming to Russia and Europe are grown in Latin America. The largest suppliers of millions of beloved fruit are Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica. These fruits are delivered to our northern latitudes by sea, and in order for bananas to well endure a long journey (and the path to Europe can take 2-3 weeks), they are torn off by green ones.

Green bananas travel in special refrigerators at a temperature of about + 15ºС. Under such conditions, they do not rot, but also does not ripen, that is, upon arrival at the port of destination, the bananas remain in the same green form as they left the tropics. In the same form, they come to large retail chains that are engaged in subsequent retail sales.

The green bananas that arrived at the warehouses are subjected to special gas processing in order to accelerate the ripening process and make it more uniform. Of course, bananas could ripen themselves, but it will take much more time, and this will make the product unprofitable. In order that sellers do not incur losses, and buyers have the opportunity to purchase fruits at an affordable price, a banana carbonation procedure was invented.

The meaning of this operation is as follows. From the refrigerator, bananas are transferred to the so-called gas chamber, where the temperature is kept at + 18-20 ° C. After warming the fruit, the chamber is filled with banana gas - a mixture of nitrogen (95%) and ethylene (5%). Under the influence of the "magic" gas mixture, starch, contained in large quantities in green bananas, turns into sugar, fruits become sweet, and their color takes on a ripe yellow hue. Industrial chambers for aeration of bananas are in all warehouses of companies selling these fruits.

Such a procedure is completely harmless to health and is a necessary measure. The gas mixture mimics the natural gases that fruits emit during ripening. Although experts note that the taste of artificially ripened bananas is inferior to the taste of fruits ripened in natural conditions.