Well, the actual term is “Banana Gassing”. Why does a banana stay bright and firm in the supermarkets, but quickly becomes covered in brown spots in your living room? They’re gassed. By a professional!
Bananas are shipped from foreign countries unripe and green to prevent bruising. During the shipping process, bananas must be refrigerated at specifically chilled containers. Then, the gasser kicks in. The banana gasser sprays the fruit in hermetically sealed chambers (also known as airtight containers) with ethylene gas. The purpose of this is to speed the process of ripening, or catalyze it. This gas, C2H4, is what remains of alcohol in liquor if you remove the water. By manipulating gas vents, the gasser can manipulate when the fruit ripens with this catalytic gas.
However, it’s not just as simple as turning on and off a gas vent. The gasser must evaluate how long they’ve been traveling and where the bananas originated. New shipments must go immediately into the chamber, so it’s a split second decision of how much gas to give them, what temperature to sustain them at, and for how long the bananas are in the chamber. One batch of fast-ripeners can cause an explosion of early-ripening fruit, which the gassers must try to prevent. Everything the gasser does is a meticulous calculation.
Getting the banana from trees in hot climates to the consumers around the world is a lot more complicated than it seems. Not bad, for the most popular fruit in the world!