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A Little Science in the Kitchen To Help the Grocery Bill

by Mary Hunt

By now, you may have picked up on the fact that I, your humble columnist, am on a quest to stop being so wasteful.

I've started in the kitchen, employing every tip and trick out there for making food -- especially fresh produce -- last long enough to be used up. I'm tired of my garbage disposer being the best-fed member of the family.

A recent tip from a reader, who said the best way to ripen a banana is to stick it into a paper bag with an apple, reminded me of a gas called ethylene. ...

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Posted by: sdc_99
Comment: #1
Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:51 AM

Actually, although apples are a big ethylene producer, bananas are bigger. You don't need the apple in that paper bag. But what this banana (or apple) in a paper bag trick is really good for is improving the quality of out-of-season tomatoes. Because ripe tomatoes are so hard to ship, they are typically picked green and then gassed with ethylene to turn them red. They taste like cardboard because they're not actually ripe. A longer ethylene exposure (say about 2 days in a paper bag with a banana) will give you significant improvement in tomato taste/smell/texture.

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