this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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Oranges are green until they are ripe. What tropical place did you see a ripe green orange?
Vietnam. Brazil. Ecuador. A lot of equatorial places.
The orange color is caused by something happening to the chlorophyll when the temperatures cool. But in the tropics, temps can be fairly steadily warm and don't trigger that reaction.
Apparently oranges and other citrus fruit (and others, like bananas) are "degreened" with ethylene.
Here's a video with bananas. https://youtu.be/jzjBAAv9nxc
I can also say that bananas are quite yellow when ripe, without additives. Have had banana trees in 2 different houses, of 2 different banana varieties.
I think I unintentionally blurred together two separate things.
Citrus can be ripe and still be coloured green. Ethylene is used to make them orange, as they look more appealing to buyers that way.
Green bananas on the other hand are just not ripe. Ethylene is still used here, but to "kickoff" the fruit's ripening process - in just a few days it becomes yellow and ripe.
There's many things that release ethylene naturally when ripening, like tomatoes, apple, kiwi, ... These need to be kept away from other sensitive produce (lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, ...) as they'll start looking "nasty" and lower their shelf life.
Yes that’s fair. I live away from home now where bananas are always shipped by sea.
My understanding is that they reap the banana still green, stall their ripening (presumably by somehow making the ethylene inert or some other mechanism), then accelerate their ripening upon arrival.
This has the very evident effect of making the bananas last a very few days in between becoming ripe and getting mushy and improper for consumption.
Back home, they last maybe 4-8 weeks at different stages of ripening, from thick and bright yellow skin with a firm and slightly dry and zesty fruit, to a fairly blackened and fragile skin with a very soft and sweet fruit but still not yet mushy and gooey.
It’s common here to eat green bananas, to the point that many locals think that’s how it’s “supposed” to be. I have explained to friends that’s not the case and it has transformed their views of the fruit. It’s quite curious!