Ripening

After the ocean voyage from the tropics, the bananas are unloaded from the ship and taken without delay to a Ripening Centre. These centres have a number of ripening rooms or chambers, into which the pallets of fruit are carefully placed. Over a period of 5 days or so, the temperature in the chamber is raised very slightly to around 14 degrees C, and the bananas turn from green to yellow. The system is computerised so that once the Ripening Manager has determined the most appropriate ripening programme, the computer will ensure that the temperature inside the chamber stays within a preset band - too cool and the bananas will catch a chill; too warm and they will ripen too quickly. The introduction of a minute amount of ethylene vapour (a substance produced naturally by all fruit as it ripens) at the beginning of the ripening cycle awakens all the bananas in the chamber from their refrigerated sleep at the same time, so that ripening can be closely controlled.