The Art of Fruit Ripening.I'm not exaggerating much when I call fruit ripening an art. I've been stuck with green bananas when I was ready to eat some brown-spotted ones, and occasionally underestimated ripening time to such an extent that I've been forced to throw out good food. Now that I've been on a healthy raw food diet for some time, I've gotten a lot of first hand experience with having huge quantities of fruit in my home. Usually over 100 pounds. Eating raw isn't like eating cooked food. You can head to the supermarket, buy a bag of potato chips, and chow down as soon as you've paid for it. 
If you go to that same store to find all of the fruit unripe, you're going to be hungry until you ripen it yourself. The fast food mentality doesn't apply to fruit, so it's critical that you learn about timing. How Fruit RipensFruit ripening is largely due to a plant hormone called ethylene, which is a gas. Most fruits give off ethylene in ever increasing quantities as they ripen, and we can use this to our advantage when planning our diet.Ethylene production increases as temperature rises, which is why you may have noticed that your fruit ripens quicker in the summer than the winter. The fridge can be used to slow down ripening considerably. Conversely, heat speeds things up. Fruit Ripening: How Do You Know It's Ready?When I tell people that I often eat 12-20 bananas at a sitting, they often can't believe it, and tell me that they would throw up from eating so many. Well if I ate bananas like they do I'd throw up too.One of the people who said this to me was eating a banana with her lunch that still had green on it. Though the majority of Americans may may consider this a good banana, it's far from ideal. The body runs off sugar. Anything you eat that's not sugar must be converted into it by the body before use. Fruit's ripening process, then, is essentially predigesting food for you. Eating lots of unripe fruit can make you sick. For Instance:
Bananas aren't really ideal until they've got plenty of brown spots on them, but this is ironically when most people start throwing them away. Other fruits are sometimes eaten when they're unripe, but the indicators aren't as clear. Fruit Ripening With Science
By placing something like a brown-spotted banana into a sealed paper bag with green bananas, the gas produced by the ripe banana will speed the ripening of the unripe bananas. You can also mix up fruits by, for instance, ripening tomatoes with bananas.So say that you just bought yourself an entire box of green bananas. You want eat some soon, and others later, and realize that if they're ripening at the same pace you'll be hit with more fruit than you can eat all at once. The key is to use what you know about ethylene to your advantage. As I mentioned in my fruit storage article, putting fruit in a warm spot will speed up the process. I have a utility closet that's always warmer than the rest of the apartment, so I stick my fruit in there to ripen. Also remember that heat rises, and so higher areas will tend to ripen before lower ones. Particular Fruit Ripening Needs:
Apples: Stick them in the fridge after you've picked them to keep them from going mushy. Apricots: If they're not ripe, store them in a paper bag. Once they're ripe, eat them within a day or two. Berries: Berries can be hard to manage, and are very perishable. Take out any overripe berries and eat them immediatly or throw them away if they've gone bad. If any are smashed or moldy, immediatly throw them out. You can keep most berries for 3 or four days, but watch them close for signs of decay. Fresh blueberries are an exception and often last 10 days. Bananas: See above section, but after becoming very spotted bananas can be stored in the fridge for at least another week. The peels may turn black but the fruit will stay good. Cherries: If they're in good condition, they should last about a week. Remove any that have started to go bad. You can keep them in the fridge for a few days if necessary. Dates: Dates will be perfectly ripe when you get them. They can be stored in the fridge or at a cool temperature for a long time. I usually eat the dates I get within a few weeks, so I'm not quite sure exactly how long. Grapefruit: These can be kept at room temperature for perhaps a week, and will taste better when not chilled. If you want to keep them longer, put them in the fridge and you can get seven weeks out of them. Grapes: Pick over any grapes and get rid of the smashed ones. If you're not eating them immediatly, you can keep them in the fridge for 4-6 days. Kiwi Fruit: Kiwis can be ripened with the ethylene gas of other fruit, but once ripe keep them away from the other fruit, because they'll quickly become overripe. Once ripe they can keep for a week in the fridge. Lemons and limes: Lemons will last about two weeks at room temperature, but limes should be refrigerated as soon as you bring them home if you're not going to use them quickly. Mangoes: Mangoes will sweeten best at room temperature. They're ripe when you skin is pliable enough to peel easily with your nail and finger. The skin should be easily pulled off the flesh. I've kept ripe mangoes for up to 5 days in the fridge. Oranges: Oranges are as ripe as they'll ever be when you pluck them from the tree. They'll last a few days at room temperature of a little over a week in the fridge. Plantains: Read the plantain ripening guide
here.
Following Up On This Fruit Ripening Article:Learn more about fruit ripening in the fruit guide.Find great uses for your fruit in the raw food recipes section. Keep up to date with new articles from this site.
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