I decided to give this its own topic as popping in and out – now lunchtime- and unless I quote in chat thread the topic is pretty disjointed.

Crinkle said:

cackles said:

If you freeze them they’re really only then good for cooking. The riper the banana the better the cake, muffin, milkshake etc. If your choices are chucking or freezing, freezing is cheaper ;)
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Not true at all! Just as good as fresh provided you eat straight from freezer – they don’t set solid and are very nice that way! A bit like Weiss Bars! Or you can mash first and add milk for a creamier treat before freezing. I would never waste nice Lady Fingers in banana cake or the like -much prefer them fresh or frozen which is as good as. No banana is ever wasted here! Rarely buy any and if any get squashed or damaged – or rarely over-ripe I blend them for a smoothie, maybe even add an egg – drink like than or freeze then.

Thanks for that. I have heard that dipping them in lemon juice before freezing stops them going brown. Any thoughts??
My bananas are ‘dwarf cavendish’. The bananas are big but the trees not too tall. Needless to say that with three trees laden I might just explode from banana consumption. The trees have at least had the decency to stage their fruiting over a couple of months. I guess I won’t be short on potassium for a while. It’s a pitty all YOUS are so far away. I could probably feed the whole forum on bananas for ages especially if I freeze some.
AND that’s the other thing … they all ripen at once! I think I should start cutting some hands and putting them in brown paper bags to ripen inside. It’s a battle between letting them ripen on the tree …. DELICIOUS!!! … or feeding the rats, possums and birds. Actually what I have done before is, with the help of a VERY STRONG man cut the whole bunch and hung it in the Pussy Palace protected from the wildlife so partial to a juicy ripe banana. Right now ‘strong man’ is away working. Hmmmm…. might see what his brother is doing this weekend.
If I can work out the photo thing I’ll try and post a photo of the bananas.

I will see if I can recover what I typed in reply to this but haven’t yet submitted and will send this before I lose it too.

Good thinking cackles

Hmm – mine are lady Finger – should have said that before as freezing qualities of home-grown just-severed from stem fruit is probably a lot different from green-picked, commercially grown and artificially ripened bananas! I know what I prefer!

Yep I had to cut mine down last week as something had chewed the bottoms off half the lower hands, although I prefer to leave as long as possible and until at least some ripen before harvesting. I have yet to find out how to get the hands of the fruiting stem without damage! * Suggestions welcome!*I had difficulty wielding the serrated kitchen knife to cut individual hands without damaging fruit in the process.I think I will next try something more like a filleting knife next time. It needs to be a strong but narrow blade when bananas are well filled – and these are the biggest Lady Fingers I can remember seeing :) I didn’t take a photo though to substantiate the bragging! Nowhere near as good as some I saw at the Brisbane Ekka a few years ago – I asked how it was achieved and was told “fertiliser”.

I had to cut a few hands off so I could move them. I usually hook a pergola hook into the bunch and suspend in my patio & time drape some shade cloth over the lot to try to hide them from the flying foxes and parrots who are not above flying in under cover to get at them. There is another stem out there with fruit on it but they are no where as good as the ones I just harvested – too much root competition – and shade now from back neighbour’s place and not so many were pollinated for whatever reason.

Sorry for long post – I usually can’t be bothered to read ones this long…

Yes I agree about the long ones but somehow it’s different when they interest you hey? :))
My bananas get the grey water from the washing machine. We only use Amway soap as it is guaranteed free of phosphates.

Testing photobucket

EXCELLENT!!! It worked. Woo hoo. Woop Woop. La, la. La, la.

Nice Narnies!

Once they get to that stage, what do you do? I waited for something to happen. Something happened alright! The birds and rats ate holes in them and eventually they rotted and fell off, all without showing a hint of yellow. Oops.

wow they look good.

Crinkle said:

Testing photobucket

If you look closely at the top left hand side you can see where something has been snacking.
Good job I took the photo when I did as the stem of the whole bunch cracked and broke yesterday. I now have lots of paper bags with bananas in them and the bottom half of the bunch hanging in the Pussy Palace. It was a shame though as the babanas still have corners on them and are no quite mature yet.

hortfurball said:

Nice Narnies!

Once they get to that stage, what do you do? I waited for something to happen. Something happened alright! The birds and rats ate holes in them and eventually they rotted and fell off, all without showing a hint of yellow. Oops.

With home grown bananas they don’t go yellow like the shop ones that have been gassed. You know when they are ripe when there are no corners/ridges on them – they are full and round and soft. The problem is that the critters know that too so they have to be protected.

Crinkle said:

hortfurball said:

Nice Narnies!

Once they get to that stage, what do you do? I waited for something to happen. Something happened alright! The birds and rats ate holes in them and eventually they rotted and fell off, all without showing a hint of yellow. Oops.

With home grown bananas they don’t go yellow like the shop ones that have been gassed. You know when they are ripe when there are no corners/ridges on them – they are full and round and soft. The problem is that the critters know that too so they have to be protected.

Ta, so do you eat them green then? Or does placing them in a paper bag make them go yellow? With an apple for methane(??).

Crinkle said:

hortfurball said:

Nice Narnies!

Once they get to that stage, what do you do? I waited for something to happen. Something happened alright! The birds and rats ate holes in them and eventually they rotted and fell off, all without showing a hint of yellow. Oops.

Would the not quite ripe ones be okay fried? I don’t like the fish & chip shop style nanna fritters, but when I was in Indonesia we had beautiful fried nannas. Really think batter, all crispy. Just wonderful.

With home grown bananas they don’t go yellow like the shop ones that have been gassed. You know when they are ripe when there are no corners/ridges on them – they are full and round and soft. The problem is that the critters know that too so they have to be protected.

hortfurball said:

Crinkle said:

hortfurball said:

Nice Narnies!

Once they get to that stage, what do you do? I waited for something to happen. Something happened alright! The birds and rats ate holes in them and eventually they rotted and fell off, all without showing a hint of yellow. Oops.

With home grown bananas they don’t go yellow like the shop ones that have been gassed. You know when they are ripe when there are no corners/ridges on them – they are full and round and soft. The problem is that the critters know that too so they have to be protected.

Ta, so do you eat them green then? Or does placing them in a paper bag make them go yellow? With an apple for methane(??).

Yes they are a greenish but do colour up a bit once really ripe. They look green but if they’re soft they’re ripe and it’s a normal banana colour inside. If you can protect them you don’t need to put them in bags. It’s just that mine aren’t really ripe yet. Putting something ripe in with them helps, like an avocado, but I don’t have any at the moment but just remembered I have some apples in the fridge that are ripe … good thinking.

Nice bananas there Crinkle.

If anyone is interested I picked this info up somewhere:

These f&v produce ethylene gas (which is what hastens the ripening):
apples; apricots; bananas; blueberries; cantaloupe; citrus fruits (except grapefruit); cranberries; figs; guavas; grapes; honeydew; ripe kiwi fruit; mangoes; melons; nectarines; papayas; passion fruit; peaches; pears; persimmons; pineapple; plantains; plums; prunes; quinces; watermelon.; avocados; green onions; mushrooms; okra; tomatoes

These f&v are damaged by ethylene gas (ie don’t store these guys with ones listed above):
asparagus; broccoli; Brussels sprouts; cabbage; carrots; cauliflower; chard; cucumbers; eggplant; endive; escarole; green beans; kale; leafy greens; lettuce; parsley; peas; potatoes; romaine lettuce; spinach; squash; sweet potatoes; watercress ; yams; cut flowers; florist greens; kiwi fruit; potted plants

SueBk said:

If anyone is interested I picked this info up somewhere:

These f&v produce ethylene gas (which is what hastens the ripening):

Doh, Ethylene, not Methane!! I knew it was wrong which is why I had the question marks! I’d been reading about different composting methods this morn and the anaerobic bacteria produce methane which is why I had it in my head!

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

hortfurball said:

Nice Narnies!

Would the not quite ripe ones be okay fried? I don’t like the fish & chip shop style nanna fritters, but when I was in Indonesia we had beautiful fried nannas. Really think batter, all crispy. Just wonderful.

Sorry I missed your question before SueBK.
That’s what comes of rushing in and out.
Ummm …… don’t really know but would presume that’s the way to do it.
Maybe I should try it even though I’m trying to loose weight.