Ya gotta keep ’em separated
August 13, 2022 by DarcieProperly storing fruits and vegetables can make them last longer, and knowing which of them can be stored together and which should be kept apart is crucial to this task. A big part of this conundrum has to do with ethylene gas, which helps some fruits and vegetables ripen. Conventional wisdom holds that foods are generally considered either ‘ethylene producers’ or ‘ethylene sensitive’ and ne’er the two should mix. That is an oversimplification, and as Good Food (Aus) explains, the science is a bit more nuanced than that.
Many foods can be both ethylene producers and be sensitive to the gas at the same time, because they produce ethylene to start the ripening process. That’s why putting food into paper bags can help hasten ripening; it concentrates the gases instead of letting them dissipate into the atmosphere. But if you put a heavy ethylene producer such as a banana in with something that doesn’t produce its own ethylene, like cucumbers, the results can be disastrous.
Beyond the ethylene question, there is another variable to consider when storing your fresh produce: whether your fruit is climacteric or nonclimacteric. Climacteric fruit will continue to ripen after it is picked (tomatoes, bananas, mangoes, and stone fruit), while nonclimacteric fruit will not ripen further off the vine (watermelon, berries, citrus, grapes). Climacteric fruit will respond to the presence of ethylene by producing more ethylene, while ethylene will not have an effect on the other type of fruit, which will just get soft or rot instead of getting sweeter.
Bonus points to those who recognize the title of this post from the mid-90s song lyric.
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