There is a roiling controversy in our house. And like all things we disagree on, it just doesn't pay to continue to argue about it because there's just no winning. (I love you honey) Anyway, this point of contention revolves around the ripening of fruit and its place in our lives.
A little background is necessary. Dave likes to buy produce… and leave it in bowls around the kitchen. It’s a Martha Stewart thing I guess as I can’t ever picture Sheila Lukins bothering to do anything like that. I digress…. The fruit tends to ripen, as all fruit eventually does. But, sometimes the fruit doesn’t ripen FAST enough, as is the case with the bowl full of persimmons that is currently tightly wrapped in plastic on the island in our kitchen. Earlier this week Dave was lamenting the disastrous eventuality that the persimmons wouldn’t be ripe enough to make pudding by the party. (Hmmm, love that alliteration. Sounds a little like a nursery rhyme…) I looked at the hermetically sealed bowl of fruit and commented, “why don’t you try putting them in a paper bag….” Which immediately refueled the old discussion: Which is better, paper or plastic? Only this time it was in terms of how to ripen fruit.
“You have to keep it in a plastic bag!” I was told. “It needs carbon dioxide” Having had this discussion many times before I attempted to interject, “yes, but it also needs oxygen….” But I was drowned out, and gave up… only after token resistance. So I’m a quitter. Oh well.
But here is the skinny, ripening fruit "breathes,” or respires. That means that it takes up oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide. So yes, Dave was right… in a way, but only partially. But I was also correct. Oxygen is essential for the chemical reactions involved in ripening. Ripening fruit also gives off another gas -- called ethylene. Not only is ethylene a product of ripening fruit, but it actually causes further chemical ripening to occur when it’s present in abundance.
Now for the showdown: Paper bags tend to keep in ethylene, but they are porous enough to allow oxygen (and ethylene) to pass through. As a result, the fruit is bathed in its ‘ripening agent gas’ but is also supplied with oxygen, which is necessary for the whole process to happen in the first place. So, to wrap it all up, so to speak, the choice is obviously a paper bag when it comes to, “OHMYGODHOWDOIGETTHIS _____________ TORIPENBYTHETIMEINEEDITFOR _________?”
The whole discussion was ended with Dave chiding me, “You don’t even cook, what would you know about this anyway?” Ah, yes, I may not cook, and believe me, Dave is an excellent cook, but I do have a college degree in biology, access to the internet, a penchant for being vindictive, and THIS BLOG.
Boogah ;)
