Bananas ripen quickly, especially when placed in a fruit bowl with other fruits. The refrigerator is not ideal either, as it can cause their skin to darken. The preservation of bananas depends on a cool, dark, and well-ventilated place, cold enough to slow their ripening without damaging them. The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) detailed in June 2026 why bananas brown so quickly and how to slow their ripening at home. The cause is a natural gas that bananas emit, which accelerates their own decomposition as well as that of neighboring fruits. The preservation of bananas relies on a simple principle: keeping this gas at a distance and maintaining a cool, dark environment. Bananas are part of climacteric fruits, which continue to ripen after being picked. For this, they produce ethylene, a gaseous hormone that changes starch into sugars and turns the peel from green to yellow, then to brown. This gas acts in a chain, because the more the fruit progresses, the more it emits, which accelerates the next steps. The banana thus hastens its own decline, and that of its fruit bowl neighbors. An apple, a pear or a tomato placed next to it bathes in the same invisible cloud and browns more quickly in turn. In a closed fruit bowl, the gas accumulates and makes all the fruits age more quickly. Placing it in full light, near a window or an oven, worsens things further, because the heat accelerates the production of ethylene. The refrigerator, often presented as the solution, poses another problem, since below 12°C the banana suffers a cold shock that darkens its skin in a few hours, even if the flesh, inside, is preserved. To keep a yellow fruit presentable, the good compromise is around 13 to 15°C, where ripening slows without the cold damaging the appearance. A cellar, a well-ventilated pantry or a staircase under, away from light, performs this role much better than a heated kitchen. However, once the banana is ripe, the cold becomes an ally, because it freezes the flesh for a few more days, the brown skin then being only an appearance defect. Once the right location is found, a few gestures allow even more time to be gained. The first consists of handling bananas with care. A shock or a pressure quickly damages the pulp and causes brown spots to appear. Hanging the bunch on a hook precisely prevents it from always resting on the same points and also promotes air circulation. When some bananas ripen faster than others, it is better to then separate them from the bunch. This way, the more advanced ones can be consumed without dragging the whole lot at the same pace. Wrapping the crown in a food film can also slightly slow down the ripening by limiting exchanges at the stems. Finally, there is no need to throw away those that have already ripened too much. Once peeled, their pulp can go to the freezer, where it is preserved for several months. It then remains perfectly suitable for jams, smoothies or pastries.