It drives me crazy it when my store-bought tomatoes go straight from unripe to mush. After talking with local farmers in my area, I discovered a few things that might help you enjoy this fruit without sacrificing taste and time.


Grocery store owners know that their products are very perishable. If the tomatoes arrive ripe, they might start to rot before they can get on the shelf for the customer. Ripe tomatoes are near impossible to transport, which means that farmers often pick unripe (green and therefore very firm) tomatoes to put on the truck. Grocery stores prefer hard, unripe tomatoes so their customers can get them home safely.


The problem is, how do you enjoy a tomato if it’s not ready?


Scientists and food experts ripen tomatoes quickly with ethylene while they are in storage. As the gas surrounds the green tomato, it chemical reacts to speed up the ripening process, causing the tomato to soften and change color to red or orange.


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6 Responses to “How to Ripen a Tomato with a Banana”

  1. No, you most likely won’t see changes across one afternoon. It will most likely be about a day before you see changes.

  2. It depends on how ripe the tomato is to begin with and how much ethylene your particular banana emits. The video example shows the process over about four days.

  3. angela_vigil says:

    I meant would we be able to get done in one afternoon

  4. angela_vigil says:

    How long should this take

  5. The amount of ethylene produced from ripening fruit is considered safe. The amount of ethylene used in factories is much higher and should not be breathed.

  6. sanasyed314 says:

    Is ethylene safe?