Stop Your Sliced Bananas From Turning Brown With One Simple Trick

You've probably heard the saying, "we eat with our eyes first." When food is presented in an attractive manner, we're more enticed to eat it, assuming that if it looks good, it probably tastes good, too. But we've seen what happens when fruits in particular are cut ahead of time before eating — an unsightly brown color quickly forms on the flesh. This is due to a chemical reaction that occurs within certain fruits like bananas when they're exposed to oxygen. 

Whether fresh banana slices are used as a garnish on top of desserts, in fruit salads, or on morning oatmeal or porridge, it's important to prevent them from losing their creamy yellow color, or else others may think the dish tastes as bad as the brown banana slices on top look. The trick is to add an acid to the slices. This could mean any kind of citrus juice (lemon, lime, or orange), pineapple juice, vinegar, or you can even use honey.

To preserve the color of banana slices using a liquid citric acid, mix two parts of a fresh citrus juice with one part water — or a powdered citric acid can be used just as effectively by dissolving a ½ teaspoon of citric acid powder in 2 tablespoons of water.  Alternatively, a honey syrup can be made with equal parts honey and water. Once you're ready to add banana slices the dish you're preparing, gently toss the slices in any of these mixtures to thoroughly coat them. While vinegar diluted in a cup of water can also be applied to the slices, it may make bananas taste overly sour depending on your dish.

Keeping in mind the other components the sliced bananas will be paired with can help determine the best acid mixture to use. If the slices will be used as a garnish in cream-based desserts like banana cream pie or Bobby Flay's chocolate banana pudding, the honey syrup mixture may be better choice. It preserves the fruit's color, and complements the sweet flavors better than vinegar. For fruit salad, a citric acid mixture with honey may be more advantageous because it not only prevents browning of the banana slices, but can also enhance the salad by brightening the other fruit flavors from the subtle sweetness and tang it provides.

To help prolong the color of your sliced and coated banana slices, keep the dish or dessert they're included in refrigerated in an airtight container. Alternatively, you can freeze bananas slices to preserve them for even longer. But preventing sliced bananas from browning also starts with choosing the right fruit when shopping, and then storing it correctly at home.

Look for bananas with golden yellow peels that are perfectly ripe instead of speckled brown ones — overly ripe and frozen bananas are best in banana bread rather than in fruit salads or as a garnish. Store whole bananas out of direct sunlight and away from other ethylene-producing fruits like apples, pears, and honeydew melons. The plastic wrapped around the banana bunch's crown should also be kept on after it's purchased, as this is meant to slow ripening. And popping your whole ripe bananas in the fridge can slow ripening even further.