Cooking Tips: Bananas

In the summer heat, bananas tend to ripen faster than you can eat them. Slow things down by separating bunches and storing bananas apart from each other, preferably not in a bowl. As they age, bananas, like many fruits and vegetables, emit a gas called ethylene that accelerates ripening. (Ethylene is the reason a bad apple spoils the bunch, as they say.) By separating bananas, you are allowing room for the ethylene to escape, thus reducing exposure to ethylene and slowing ripening.--FN Calendar