Ripe fruit?

[IggyB]

if you put certain types of fruit with another does this help them ripen? and if so what fruits do this and how? any ideas or am i being daft

[Wispy68]

I know you're not supposed to store bananas with other fruit. I think it's something to do with the gasses from the other fruit ripening the bananas too quickly, or maybe the gasses from the bananas ripening the other fruit too quickly..something like that, anyway!! Hence the reason for those fruit bowls with banana 'trees' on them.

[Pinotage]

No, you are not being daft. Ripening fruit gives off ethylene gas and that encourages unripe fruits to ripen. So if you put a yellow banana with some unripe apples, they'll ripen more quickly. Near us is a banana warehouse. They bring over green bananas and flood the warehouse with ethylene gas to getthem to ripen.

Theres a detailed description of the process and which fruits give off most gas and which are sensitive to it at http://www.aboutproduce.com/faq/ethylene.html

[thewillow]

Putting a banana into a plastic bag with an avocado to speed up the ripening of the avodaco is the one I'm aware of.

[thewillow]

Whoops! What's an avodaco?

[buchanan]

I know tomatoes cause flowers to bloom. I discovered this while working for a transport firm and arranging tomatoes and flowers to be shipped together.

[Mr Bear]

I have heard that putting bananas and tomatoes together can help one of them ripen (Not sure which)

[IggyB]

thank you all, this begin to explain where i have been going wrong - have been putting fruit i want to ripen on the window (to get some sun and freshish air) and the stuff is ripe in a very small cupboard... needless to say I keep ending up with some fruit that will never ripen and a cupboard full of compost... yum

[Dazzler]

Since avocados are alligator pears, maybe avodacos are crocodile pears, n ot sure really