When we include sliced bananas in desserts, they tend to turn brown very quickly. And the riper the banana, the faster it will seems to turn brown.So if you need attractive slices of banana for your desserts, choose those that are not too ripe and always use a stainless steel knife to cut them. When decorating a dessert or gateau, simply brush the banana slices with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Do not dip them in a bowl of lemon juice as this can make them slimy.

However, if you are mashing bananas, turning those slices in a bowl of lemon juice first not only keeps the flesh white but also encourages the slices to soften into a creamy paste. This would make the job of mashing easier.

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Bananas give off a gas known as ethylene which makes any other fruits surrounding it to ripen faster and possibly spoil. Keeping bananas separately from other fruit lets them all ripen naturally. However, if you need to ripen fruit quickly, such as peaches that are hard, store a banana together with them. Bananas is best store at room temperature and not in the refrigerator as it dislikes the cold temperature.

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Whether it is green or yellow, it all depends on what you intend to do with them. When bananas turned deep yellow and brown speckles appear on the skin, they are fully ripe. The flesh becomes sweeter and fuller in flavor as they mature, so buy ripe ones if you want to eat them the same day. Otherwise choose those that are still green or just beginning to turn yellow if you intend to eath them later in the week as they will ripen quite quickly once you get them home.

When using bananas for cooking, especially for those savory dishes, use the fruit that is not completely ripe and still has partly green or pale yellow skin. That way will enable us to slice easier and the flavor is not so dominating. However, for the moist, high-fiber type of recipes, it is best to use fruit that is ripe.

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