How to ripen fruit at home

Some fruit will not ripen once picked. The following fruits are not good choices for ripening at home:

• Pineapples
• Honeydew melons
• Strawberries
• Raspberries

For fruit that will ripen once picked, here's how to accelerate the ripening process:

1. Place unripended fruit in a brown paper bag.
2. Add a ripe banana to the bag. The ripe banana will give off ethylene gas, a naturally occuring compound found in bananas, which speeds up the ripening process in fruits and vegetables.
3. Leave brown paper bag closed for up to 48 hours.

I’m Martha Dreyton from Whole Foods Market. Customers frequently ask me, how can I ripen fruit once I’ve brought it home? Unfortunately, some fruits cannot be ripened once picked. Pineapples, honeydew melons, strawberries and raspberries. They may soften once picked, but they’re not ripening, they’re actually deteriorating so it’s important to buy these fruits as ripe as possible. However, we do have some fruits that do ripen at home. Bananas, peaches, pears, avocados, cassava and cantaloupe. You can hasten the ripening process by placing these fruits in a brown paper bag. An avocado, a pear, a peach, along with a ripe banana. The ripe banana emits ethylene gas which is a naturally occurring compound found in bananas. This gas hastens the ripening process. Within 48 hours, these fruits will go from being rock hard to ready ripe and delicious. I’m Martha Drayton from Whole Foods Market for Howdini.com.