question about bananas
 

does anyone have any clue as to why, when you buy fresh, green banana's and peel them the skin is thick and somewhat rigid, but when you peel a ripe one, it's thin and flimsy?

i was thinking it would be because it had dried out, but i would expect that to make it thinner (less water in it) and stiffer.

That's a fun question, I never thought about it. Clementine skins also get thinner as they age, but they get harder.

Most people peel bananas from the stem side, where all the bananas link together. Monkeys peel from the opposite side. If you peel from the opposite side, then the stringy bits tend to stay on the peel. Follow the monkeys.

do i look like a monkey? ;-)

i'm gonna have to try that.

How do you get it started?

Use your prehensile tail. Duh.

Do I have to groom myself and others during this process?

The answer is: no, you don't use an apostrophe in bananas.

Yes, I know... I'm a pedant. I maintain that it's what separates us from the animals. ;)

If I remember correctly (I wondered about this a while ago and asked a biologist), most fruits soften as they ripen, and this includes the skin, flesh and any stems or leaves attached. This can be due to water loss, conversion of starch to sugar and the breakdown of the rigid walls of the cells.

heh, well, if there's ever a punctuation (or spelling) bowl, i'm pretty sure i won't get drafted.



ah, cool. makes sense. thanks!

Why is it that I always suspect something erotic when bananas are mentioned. Why? Why? Why?

Erm, I really do know the answer.. now back to your original programming.

heh, that's funny, cause when i was typing the topic in, i thought about the kirk cameron banana video.

I don't have one :( Can I use my prehensile wang instead?

Just as allaboutmusic said. It has to do with the loss of starch, and the increase of glucose and fructose (soluble sugars). See abstract below. (The Internet is a wonderful thing.)

Bioactive amines and carbohydrate changes during ripening of ‘Prata' banana (Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana)

Abstract

Green bananas were harvested at the full three-quarter stage, conditioned in polyethylene and stored for 35 days at 16 ± 1 °C and 85% relative humidity. Peel colour changed with time. The yellow colour ideal for consumption was achieved at 21 days and, after 28 days, brown specks started to appear. There was a significant increase in the pulp-to-peel ratio. The green fruit had high starch and low soluble sugars levels. Starch levels decreased significantly throughout ripening. At the seventh day of storage sucrose was prevalent, however, fructose and glucose levels increased while sucrose remained constant, decreasing after 28 days. Starch loss followed a first order reaction. Formation of glucose and fructose followed zero order kinetics with higher rate for fructose. The bioactive amines detected were putrescine, spermidine and serotonin. Serotonin decreased significantly after the 14th day of storage. Putrescine levels were similar up to 21 days and decreased significantly thereafter.

You pinch into the blackened tip. I've peeled bananas like that all my life...only now do I know I've been doing it wrong!

Interestingly, oranges are also easier to peel if you start from the side without the green bit. The skin stays together and comes off more smoothly. Try it!

Damn those ingenious monkeys! They really could type up the works of Shakespeare!

No one really knows who Shakespeare really was now you know why...

Press your thumb into the yellow part, just below the black end of the banana, and with your thumb directly on one of the ridges. This way, you can also remove the little pointy thing that sticks into what is now the top of the banana.

Or you can tear through the pointy bit assuming it's soft enough.

We had some HR sexual harrassement training vids at work a few years ago. One was titled simply "The Banana." I guess we know why that switched from a hard to a soft state after it ripened.

if you people start flinging crap at each other I'm leaving. ;)