Ripening is a natural and physical process that starts after the complete maturity of the fruit. There are two types of fruits, the first one is those which are ripened on a plant and directly transferred to the consumer end without using any processing technique like grapes, apples. The second category, where fruits are harvested and processed under a specific environment before transferring to the consumer end like mango, banana, avocado. In this article, I would like to discuss ‘What Does Fruit Ripe Meaning After Its Harvesting’ stay with me.
How to ripen avocados
Avocado is a long-season fruit, when it completes its maturity it is very hard and green in color. Now, some people think that the ripening of fruit is very easy but it is not actually. There are different methods used by the people at home which are following,
Putting avocados with banana and apple
I have seen many videos where many people are saying that hey if you want to know how to ripen avocados fast. They will demonstrate to you that you take a yellow paper bag with one avocado, one apple, and banana and then put it at room temperature, etc. After 3-4 days the avocado will be soft and ripened. But did you think that why should I sacrifice apple and banana for one avocado?
Putting avocados in the oven
Putting avocado inside the oven by wrapping it is completely wrong and against the process of ripening. It will only soften the fruit but it will be completely tasteless from the inside because the ripening process occurs not so fastly as it happened in the oven with over temperature
Putting avocados with flour
Sometimes, people use this flour method. In this method, avocado is filled with two cups of flour and put just like method number one as I mentioned earlier. This method used by some people puts at the end you need to wash the avocado and sometimes it feels like you have to wash out more of your mouth to taste it better.
Putting avocados in hot temperature environment
This is a real and most recommended method where we put the avocado under a specific environment like at room temperature and then allow the fruit to ripen almost within a week because the ripening process is very slowly happening with a little higher temperature.
How to ripen the banana
Banana is the fruit that needs a specific gap when a farmer harvests the fruit and after harvesting, it is transferred to the ripening room. So there is the following method where different people used to ripen the banana,
- The Banana is loaded on the truck At green stage and transferred into storage rooms. In the storage room bananas are stored under very low temperature where these bananas are transferred fourthur for a Ripening process. and within a week this banana turns from Green to yellow and then it is packed in a packing material and then transferred to the market for the consumers.
- At home there are different methods being used for the ripening process of banana. There are some different practices For ripening process of the banana. For this purpose a hole is dug and it is covered with a polythene sheet where a plenty of smoke is covered and then it is allowed to remain for a few days until the banana turns its colour from Green to yellow and becomes soft. It takes almost 3 to 4 days with this method and this method is called the smoke method.
- There are also different practices being used by the people like putting the banana with a natural ethylene generator like apple. This method is not liked by the people because how somebody will sacrifice something more useful like an apple will be deteriorated for the ripening process of banana.
How to ripen mangoes
The mango is a very delicious fruit and it is available in summer in Subtropical climates like in Pakistan. Mango is also included in the category of those fruits in which fruits are harvested first and then processed for ripening later. There are the following methods used for ripening purposes,
- The mango is harvested at green stage and then put under the temperature in a ventilated room to remove the field heat. Then it is transferred to the packing house where it is processed and stored for ripening for 4 to 6 days under a specific temperature with an artificial ethylene generator. This method is used by the industries and for import purposes where different quarantine measures are applied.
- So if you have the green mangoes in your home and you want to ripen and transfer the colour of the mango into yellow then there is the following practice involved. For this purpose, wrap the mangoes with paper and put them under some dark and Nehru Place for 3 to 4 days where the temperature should be more than 15 to 20 degree Celsius. This is how mangoes will ripen and will be able to be consumed.
- There is another method used mostly by the local Pakistani farmers which is harvesting green mangoes wrapped in a paper and putting powder like calcium carbide. According to the research, calcium carbide is very harmful for the health of human beings and it causes different allergic and acute diseases. So, it is suggested that you do not use calcium carbide.
How to ripen Peaches
Peach is a temperate fruit just like an apple and it doesn’t require the ripening process artificially because it completes maturity as well as ripening on the tree. So, just for your curiosity, I would like to mention how it works. So whenever we will pick the fruit of a specific category called a climacteric. Thēse fruits are ready to consume when they are harvested because they complete their ripening process earlier after maturity so there is no need to worry about ripening as an external process.
How to ripen a pineapple
Pineapple is also a fruit that belongs to a climacteric category so it will ripen when it will be harvested just like a peach.
How to ripen Pears
Pear is a temperate fruit and there is no need for ripening externally.
How to delay fruit ripening
ripening is actually a process of aging in which fruit tissues start degrading from higher Complex molecules into smaller consumable products. Ripening gets faster when the surrounding temperature is higher like ambient temperature or more than 20 degrees Celsius. So, it is necessary to keep your fruit under a low temperature so that the ripening process could be slower and hence increasing the shelf life. This is actually a simple Thumb Rule for delaying ripening.
Role of Ethylene In fruit ripening
When fruit is harvested from the field it starts a complex metabolism that degrades with the passage of time. Several processes are involved similarly a procedure named respiration creates some products in the form of Ethylene. Ethylene is a gas that sharpens the process of aging. There are two types of fruits according to the ethylene generation which is following,
You can explore a lot about these above categories in this way you will be able to understand the importance of fruits regarding ethylene generation.
Point to ponder: A natural ripening of fruits has many examples like apple, apricot, peaches, pear, etc.
Conclusion of article
- Post harvest handling is different for different fruits.
- Sometimes fruits need an external environment for completion of ripening process like banana, mango, avocado, etc.
- Fruit shelf life depends upon the temperature in the surrounding area. If the temperature is higher like an ambient room temperature then ripened fruit will survive for a few days but if you keep the fruit inside a controlled environment like in the refrigerator then its shelf life will be greater than ambient room temperature.
- Keeping fruits with other fruits like Apple or banana will generate a plenty of Ethylene and resultantly the other half ripened fruit will ripe earlier but this method is not recommended because why would someone want to sacrifice one apple and banana instead of eating.
- It is suggested that always use a proper and non-lethal method so that fruit passes through the normal passage of ripening process.
- Ripening of mango by using calcium carbide is a harmful practice which should be discouraged.
I hope you like this article regarding how fruits should be ripened. Keep commenting regarding the topic and stay tuned!