Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Here is a link you can click on to watch Chiquita in action, from the original shown in theaters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE

i think if you put them in the fridge at the peak of ripeness, the skin will turn black but the banana inside is okay.... i've done this a few times....

It slows the ripening process considerably @jenilowrance, from the moment you put them in the fridge. I prefer mine slightly underripe. Once they're soft, they get mashed and frozen.

This is what Dole says:
How to Store
Remove bananas from plastic produce bag and store at room temperature. The warmer it is, the faster the bananas will ripen. To slow ripening, refrigerate (peel will turn black but the fruit inside will be fresh and ripe). Bananas can be frozen once the banana is peeled and stored in a freezer bag until ready to use (use a bit of fresh lemon juice to reduce browning).

If bananas are too green, place them in a brown paper bag, in a warm dry area (but not in direct sunlight) for a day or two to encourage ripening. If there is still not enough yellow appearing on the peel, place a ripe apple in the bag with the bananas.

There, does that make it "like Christmas"? :-D You make me feel like Mrs. Claus.

Also be sure not to keep them stored near your apples. Apples release some chemical that speed ripening, so you should try to keep them separate from your other fruit. Unless you want to speed the ripening of something, in which case, bury that bad boy in apples.

kewl thanks Perky, I've been eating alot of bannanas lately and have to buy them like 3 days at a time I'm going to put them in the fridge! thanks!!!!

@Heart - funny, I've had pretty much identical conversations with my FIL:-)

Way! Even though I don't eat bananas, only use them when I bake banana walnut bread (in which case, I keep them out as I want them to be almost black), I know that Chiquita the banana is wrong! Same thing applies to avocados, by the way - I keep them outside until they are as ripe as I want them to be, then - into the fridge they go!

I keep them out of the refridge.

I don't ever fridge - maybe it's all that brainwashing from commercials but I don't usually chill bananas. Luckily, they never last very long around here.

You ask WAY or NO WAY... BUT, here's something you may not have considered...

Isn't it possible that since those first commercials, technology has come far enough so the cold of the fridge or the humidity or whatever it was that spoiled chilled naners has now been corrected?

*WAY* Gotta keep 'em fridged, or make banana bread constantly. (I hate the "truly ripe" ones!)

@chiff ~ anything is possible, and humidity levels in refrigeration has vastly improved, I'd venture to guess? I am of the opinion that the songwriter inserted that little suggestion and people took it as gospel. They really had little experience with bananas before that, unless they came from a tropical climate.

I'm supposed to eat a banana every day for the potassium and I can't grocery shop anymore, so I really need for them to last as long as possible. Once they're perfectly ripe, I can't eat them. Too soft. It's a texture thing. I have a banana bread or three in my future, from the frozen mashed in my freezer. :-)