Mushy Banana

Few days back, Reena had bought bananas and kept it near the dining table. That morning  she remembered that and told her daughter Sonia, to eat a banana while having her breakfast. As Banana is one of her favourite fruit, Sonia happily agreed to eat it without much fuss. But, as soon as she saw the banana , she refused to eat it.

Curious to know what changed her mind Reena came to the kitchen and checked with her. She showed the banana and Reena knew the reason why Sonia did not want to eat. The skin of the banana had changed its  colour from yellow to brown and had lots of dark spots on it. The firmness of the banana had now turned to mushy banana.
She wanted to know "what made the banana change its color and texture?".
Do banana's always change color?
Do all fruits change their color?

She had so many questions. Do you also have many questions too?.

Lets see one  at a time.

How did the banana look before it ripened?. Can you guess it?

Yes, it was green, hard and did not have any aroma or smell.

 green raw bananas

But, once the ripening process started the color of the skin changed as chlorophyll (the green stuff in plants) gets broken down.

How do these bananas know when to change color from green to yellow to brown?... Good question.

Ripe bananas

Plants send signals all the time using hormones. This happens when they get a ripening signal – a burst of a gas called ethylene. Ethylene is a simple hydrocarbon gas produced when a fruit ripens.

Ethylene is produced by rapidly growing tissue (the tips of roots, flowers, ripening fruit, damaged tissue). Thus, a wound can activate ethylene production; just the act of picking green fruit can cause the ripening process to begin. Ethylene flips the switch to trigger the genes that in turn make the enzymes that cause ripening.


After Reena explained about how the banana had ripened, her daughter Sonia, was ready to eat it, but the banana had become so mushy, that mom told her that she would make banana muffins, for the evening snack. Sonia came home in the evening, to find yummy muffins  (recipe found here -
 https://funscienceactivityclub.blogspot.in/2013/03/healthy-whole-wheat-muffin-yesterday-me.html)

which she gobbled it up without hesitation. Though she could taste the banana, she couldn't feel the mushiness of the old banana

Note...the brown spots on the bananas

Yummy ! muffins to eat..mmm

While having the banana muffin she had few  more questions such as

1. Do leaves also change color just like bananas for the same reason?
2. Are there other fruits that also change its color just like bananas?

Reena told Sonia "Think about the answers till evening and I shall tell you if you are correct or not". So, Sonia started to wonder ........