Bananas with brown skins really are that healthy

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Bananas are one of the most popular types of fruit in Germany. But how should you actually eat them – green, light yellow or already brown?

When are bananas actually ripe?

Conventional wisdom has it that bananas are ripe once their skin has turned yellow. The formation of brown spots, similar to apples or pears, is said to indicate the beginning of rotting processes.

That’s not true! On the contrary – the typical brown speckles on the banana peel show that the fruit is only really ripe now. This not only affects the taste, but also the ingredients and their positive influence on the body.

Why are ripe (brown) bananas healthier?

If you compare the texture and taste of an unripe banana to a ripe one, you might think you are dealing with a completely different fruit.

The composition of the nutrients contained is similarly different.

The ripe banana is clearly ahead in terms of its health potential:

Once the skin begins to brown, the banana’s hard-to-digest starches have been converted to easily digestible sugars, which provide you with quick energy. Unripe bananas, on the other hand, contain a particularly large amount of indigestible starch, which can cause abdominal pain and bloating after eating. On the other hand, the readily soluble fiber in ripe bananas has a positive effect on digestion. According to a Japanese study, the ingredients in ripe bananas support the body’s own formation of tumor necrosis factors (TNF), which are said to have an anti-cancer effect. The immune system also benefits from eating the sweet fruit because it stimulates the production of white blood cells. The positive effect of ripe bananas is said to be eight times stronger than in the unripe stage. Bananas provide the body with many vital substances, including basic minerals, especially potassium and magnesium. Ripe bananas also perform better in terms of positive effects on the body’s acid-base balance.

Can green bananas be ripened faster?

Unfortunately, you will mostly find unripe or even green bananas in the supermarket. If you have enough patience, you can store them at home until the first brown spots appear on the shell.

If you don’t want to wait that long, you can speed up the ripening process with a simple trick. To do this, place one or more apples next to the green bananas. They emit the ripening gas ethene (also called ethylene), which makes the bananas ripen faster.