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I Tried 7 Ways of Storing Bananas and the Winner Outlasted Them All (and Made a Huge Difference)

If you’re a once-a-week grocery shopper, bananas might be a regular source of frustration. In just a few days most of your bananas are too ripe to enjoy out of hand and relegated (albeit deliciously) to smoothies or banana bread.

To see which storage methods keep bananas in prime shape the longest, we worked to find some highly touted techniques to pit against each other. Most of them involve stashing the fruit at room temperature, but the fridge and freezer come into play, too. 

It’s worth reiterating that our goal was not to test how to ripen bananas, but instead how best to keep them looking and tasting their best. (Which is why we did not test storing in a paper bag, as that method is well-known as a way to quickly ripen bananas.)

A Few Notes on Methodology

• The bananas: I purchased bunches of conventional (not organic) bananas from the same grocery store on the same day. I selected four-banana bunches that were all at the same degree of ripeness — bright yellow, unblemished peels for the most part, with a bit of green on the ends. I also purchased a couple of loose bananas at the same stage of ripeness and tasted them on the front end to gauge their flavor so that I could establish a starting-point baseline. They were starchy and a bit “green” with a subtle amount of sweetness. 
• The storage spaces: For the bananas that I stored on my kitchen counter, I cleared a space so they could rest near each other without touching; they were away from the stove and out of direct sunlight. For the bananas I tossed in the fridge, I placed them in a crisper drawer. For those stored in the freezer, the fruit simply rested in a drawer.
• The testing: I began the tests as soon as I got home from the supermarket with the fruit. I stored the bananas for a total of six days, at which point there were distinct differences in appearance. I tasted bites from all four bananas in each of the seven bunches.
• Ratings: I judged each method on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 reserved for absolute perfection. The main factor I considered was the level of ripeness — which involved the exterior color of the bananas, as well as the flavor and texture of the peeled fruit. My preferences lean toward medium to pronounced sweetness and a little bit of bite in the texture (not mushy).

• About this method: I started testing this method immediately upon returning from the store with the fruit. Although the parameters of my testing stated to store all banana bunches intact, I varied a bit when testing this method. I stashed an intact bunch in the freezer, but I also froze a couple of separated (unpeeled) bananas and a couple of peeled ones. I froze them for six days before tasting them.

  Results: All of the unpeeled bananas’ skins were darkened but not black. As expected, the unpeeled bananas — whether from the intact bunch or the separated singles — were impossible to peel from the frozen state. 

  Once partially thawed (after about 30 minutes), I peeled and tasted these, as well as the ones that were peeled before freezing. When fully thawed, all were quite mushy. They all tasted unripe and starchy, which was also expected; every one of the many sources I consulted for this method stated that freezing is best for ripe bananas, as the cold temperature halts ripening. So if starchy, unripe-tasting bananas go into the freezer, that’s what will come out.