Aldi Shoppers Share a Common Concern About the Store’s Bananas — Turns Out, They Never Ripen
According to a Thai folklore, a ghost named Lady Tani haunts wild banana trees to offer food to the monks and avenge men who hurt women. But she won’t even touch an unripe banana. Humans have entirely different preferences. They usually pick one that is ripe and yellow. As an unripe banana sits on their kitchen counter, the ambient temperatures and the cocktail of gases hovering in the air automatically trigger the ripening process. But some baby bananas like to throw tantrums. A Reddit user, u/nameisnotboris, asked people to decipher the mystery behind Aldi’s green bananas that refuse to ripen.
“I've never experienced what others here claim that bananas from Aldi never ripen for them, they always ripen normally when I've left them out on my counter,” they said, and added in the caption, “Does anyone else not experience the frequent complaint here that bananas from Aldi never ripen?” Reddit users were quick to jump in to solve the mystery. Some agreed that the complaints about Aldi's bananas are true, while others said they never encountered such a banana.
“They either never ripen or they ripen too fast. Nothing in between,” said u/flatteninghippo. One user, u/grasspikemusic, who had witnessed a banana warehouse first-hand, hinted that the main reason for their bananas not ripening is that a crucial step is being missed. They said, for them to ripen, bananas are typically sent to a “Banana room.” Inside this room, they said, the baby banana is blasted with ethylene gas, which initiates the process of ripening.
“If this process gets skipped or they don't hit them with enough or for too short a period, they will never ripen. This is what is happening, and it's very dependent on where your local store is getting produce from,” they explained. u/IronMaidenReference said the same thing. “Bananas are gassed to ripen. My old job had a room to ripen bananas. You could use a piece of fruit in a brown bag along with your green bananas to get them ripe."
Many of them suggested buying a bunch that features a touch of yellow, not just green, and which is not too hard. “I've had the green ones that never ripen, but it's been from every grocery store. I buy bananas that have a touch of yellow to them if possible. I won't buy the green, hard ones anymore from any store,” explained u/quiltingsarah.
u/martphon said, “It's happened to me so I never buy green bananas at Aldi's.” u/bstaff99 wrote, “I stopped buying them. Every time they are green, never get yellow then they are brown.” u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress said they prefer buying Aldi’s “freeze-dried bananas covered in dark chocolate” for better ripening results. Another suggestion came from u/LaFlamaBlancakfp: “Put them in a paper bag!”
Dozens of people, however, agreed with the writer of the post, saying that they never experienced an issue with the ripening of bananas they bought from Aldi’s. “Ditto. Aldi bananas ripen naturally on my counter,” said u/bhambrewer. Others, including u/iwdws, added that Aldi’s avocados, too, are temperamental when it comes to ripening. u/TraditionalFix4929 shared, “Bananas are fine for my 2 stores. It's the freaking avocados that never ripen for me!” In the end, whether or not your bananas ripen, the best option is to “just eat them,” as u/Own-Balance-8133 said. The color might not have changed, but trust that they have ripened.