• Question: Why do bananas go rotten when they’re near apples 🍏

    Asked by Em12 to Ciara, Elaine, Golnaz, Gonzalo, Yannis, Yvonne on 10 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ciara O'Donovan

      Ciara O'Donovan answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      This is due to a gas called Ethylene which is released by fruit to ripen. Similarly if you have tomatoes and you want them to ripen quickly you can put them in a brown paper bag to trap the gas.

    • Photo: Gonzalo Delgado-Pando

      Gonzalo Delgado-Pando answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      Exactly!
      This happens because there are two types of fruit, ones called climacteric and other non-climacteric. The climacteric fruits ripen with this ethylene gas and the non climacteric don’t. So if you put two climacteric fruits together they will go rotten faster because both fruits are generating this gas.
      Some climacteric fruits: apples, bananas, melons, appricots
      Some non-climacteric fruits: citrus, grapes, strawberries

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