• Question: Can refractometers measure a banana's glucose content? I heard that to measure a banana's ripeness I would have to compare its sugar to starch ratio, but what would be the best method of doing that? I am not sure if refractometers measure starch as well, since it is a type of carbohydrate

    Asked by Pheonix to Ciara, Elaine, Gonzalo, Yannis, Yvonne on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ciara O'Donovan

      Ciara O'Donovan answered on 14 Nov 2017:


      You can measure a bananas glucose content using a refractometer

      https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/measure-sugar-ripe-fruit/

      I am not sure about measuring the ripeness of a fruit in this way sorry but if you want to test for starch you can use iodine.. when starch is present iodine changes from brown to blueish black or purple. Hope that helps!!

    • Photo: Gonzalo Delgado-Pando

      Gonzalo Delgado-Pando answered on 14 Nov 2017:


      You can measure sugar content with refractometers, but not starch. When food ripens the sugar content increases because the starch is degraded to sugar. Even if you don’t have the initial starch content you can think that is going to be similar for bananas from the same lot.

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