

If you left your bananas on the tree a little too long, harvest them as soon as possible. Is it safe to eat bananas that split open? Though they’re usually stored on the cooler side of room temperature to ripen, the peel may start to crack if the bananas were exposed to higher temperatures during transit or processing. The peel-splitting phenomenon also affects store-bought bananas. This study points to the sugars in the flesh pulling moisture from the peel, causing bananas to split at high relative humidity. This physiological disorder affects certain varieties of bananas and can occur if there’s a sudden heat spell in your garden, or if you get lots of rain in a short period of time, or if you leave your bananas in a sealed plastic bag in a warm room (creating a greenhouse effect). The peel may split when exposed to high temperatures combined with high relative humidity.

While banana trees like consistently warm, humid weather, they suffer under temperature extremes. Try this: Choco Banana Date Cookies aka Breakfast in a BiteĪnother reason banana skin may crack open is temperature. Bananas that are fully brown on the outside are actually at peak sweetness-though this is when they’re usually composted, cooked, or frozen to cook with later. During the ripening process, the skin changes from dark green to light green to yellow as the starch in the fruit is converted to sugar. The fruits can be eaten when they’re partially green, though most people wait until they’re yellow or even mottled with brown spots. If you let the bananas continue ripening on the tree, they’re more prone to splitting open (and becoming kind of dry and cottony in consistency). As long as the majority of the bunch is still green, the chances of those bananas splitting (before you’re ready to eat them) is slim. There may be a few bananas that are already turning yellow, and that’s okay. When at least 75 percent of the bunch has reached this point, cut off the entire bunch and let the bananas ripen off the tree. The bananas should be plump and firm, and the little flowers on the end should be completely dry or rubbed off easily. About four weeks after the fingers stop growing, they should be ready for harvest. How do you know when it’s time to harvest?Ĭheck the fingers (the individual bananas): As the fruits mature, the fingers get fatter but stay green. Bananas should be harvested when they’re still green, and then left to ripen on the counter at room temperature. The reason your homegrown bananas are splitting open on the bunch is usually because they’re overripe. The skin on this overripe banana is starting to crack on the end, and the peel will soon split open.
