While it may feel like common practice to store fruits and vegetables in the crisper drawer of your fridge or in that fruit bowl on the counter, doing so may actually destroy your fruits and vegetables from the start.
A fridge may seem like the freshest place to store your produce, but every fruit, vegetables or green leaves isn't alike.
What is Ethylene?
Ethylene is a natural plant hormone released in the form of a gas. It triggers cells to degrade, fruit to turn softer and sweeter, leaves to droop, and seeds or buds to sprout.
While some fruits and vegetables are high ethylene producers, others are more sensitive to it.
Popular Exotic fruits that emit ethylene gas:
The build-up of the chemical compound ethylene gas will cause them to go off, so apples, melons, apricots, bananas, tomatoes, avocados, peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, figs, and other fruits and vegetables should be kept separate as these produce the most ethylene.
Which chemical is used to ripe fruits?
Do you know the chemical used to ripe unripe fruit to increase self-life and give an attractive ripen look?
ETHYLENE (C2H4) – THE RIPENING HORMONE
Ethylene gas, acetylene gas liberated from Calcium Carbide, and Ethephon is some of the commercial ripening agents used successfully in the trade and they have been widely studied for their effectiveness in initiating and accelerating the ripening process and their effect on fruit quality and health-related issues.
Is ethylene harmful to humans?
* Ethylene gas can affect you when breathed in.
* Skin contact with liquid Ethylene can cause frostbite.
* Exposure to Ethylene can cause headache, dizziness, fatigue, lightheadedness, confusion and unconsciousness.
* Ethylene is a highly flammable and reactive chemical and poses a dangerous fire and explosion hazard.
The harmful effects of consuming artificially ripened fruits:
The symptoms of arsenic or phosphorus poisoning are diarrhoea, weakness, vomiting.
Burning sensation in the chest and abdomen, burning of skin and eyes, permanent eye damage, difficulty in swallowing, irritation in nose, mouth, and throat.
Consumption of fruits that are ripened artificially leads to stomach upset.
Ethylene Producing and Sensitive Fruits and Vegetables:
Few Fruits and Vegetables that produce Ethylene Naturally.
Fruits: Apple, Banana, Figs, Grapes, Mango, Pear,
Vegetables: Onion, Potatoes, Tomatoes.Peas
Ethylene Sensitive Foods:
Some ethylene sensitive crops can also produce a very small amount of ethylene during ripening.
Fruits: Plums, Watermelon, Strawberries, Pumpkin, leafy vegetables,
Vegetables: Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, Cucumber, Eggplant, Garlic, beans.
Ethylene is a gas hormone that is emitted from particular fruits and vegetables when they are ripening.
Ethylene is produced in all higher plants, and typically varies based on the type of tissue.
This is why you will commonly see fruits as ethylene producers compared to vegetables.
Conclusion:
Store ethylene-producing crops far away from ethylene-sensitive crops.
The best way to do that is by string ethylene producers in fruit bowls in the good ventilated area and ethylene sensitive foods in the refrigerator.
/Shop daily fresh harvest delivered directly at your doorstep.
Conventional methods adopted by most warehouses and cold stores of lowering temperature and humidity and using gases like nitrogen and sulphur increase the shelf life.
NOTE: They have several disadvantages - changing the natural properties of fruits and vegetables.
Shop at Ansio Fresh - The best Grocery Store in Chennai:
Ansio Fresh ensures Shop - offseason Fruits and Vegetable availability fresh every day and eliminates harmful preservation practices that use Nitrogen and Sulphur gas.
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