Bananas and Apples: The Ultimate Ripening Trap
Many ripening fruit produce the hydrocarbon gas ethylene as they ripen, which itself triggers more ripening. Bananas are especially productive sources of the gas, and putting one that’s in the process of going brown next to apples, pears or hard avocados will greatly speed up their ripening. Your innocent fruit bowl might actually be sabotaging your weekly grocery haul without you even realizing it. Fruits such as apples, bananas, and pears emit a greater amount of ethylene gas, which as a result affects their ripening process.
Some fruits, such as apples, bananas, kiwis and other major ethylene producers, are highly sensitive to this compound. For this reason, it’s not recommended to store apple and banana together, for instance. When you store these two powerhouse ethylene producers side by side, you’re essentially creating a ripening chamber that makes both fruits deteriorate faster than you can eat them.
Onions and Potatoes: The Sprouting Disaster
Potatoes and onions are both ideally stored in cool, dark environments, but it’s best to keep them apart because onions are ethylene producers. “The ethylene gas will cause the potato to sprout,” says registered dietitian Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN, a culinary and food-service specialist. This combination seems logical since both vegetables prefer similar storage conditions, but their chemical interactions tell a different story.
Onions release ethylene gas, a natural compound that speeds up the ripening process. When stored near potatoes, this gas encourages them to sprout and soften more quickly. At the same time, potatoes give off moisture as they sit, which can cause nearby onions to become moldy or mushy. The moisture exchange between these vegetables creates an environment perfect for spoilage on both sides.
Tomatoes and Leafy Greens: The Yellowing Effect
The thing about tomatoes is that they are moderate ethylene producers. So, instead of storing them with ethylene-sensitive foods, store your tomatoes with other ethylene-producers. Keep them away from all members of the cabbage family, spinach, okra, pepper and sweet potatoes. Your fresh salad ingredients don’t stand a chance when stored near tomatoes in the refrigerator.
Although some types of leafy greens can last longer than others, most are highly ethylene-sensitive. Romaine and spinach will discolor in certain spots, and even experience some spotting. So if you plan on making a salad with leafy greens that mixes with an ethylene producer (like apples or tomatoes), it may be wise to make the salad fresh and consume day-of for the best quality. Even brief exposure to ethylene can turn your crisp lettuce into wilted disappointment.
Cucumbers and Melons: The Soft Spot Nightmare
Many fruits, such as tomatoes, bananas, and melons, produce ethylene gas, a ripening agent that speeds up spoilage. Cucumbers are super sensitive to this ethylene gas, so they need their own place or they’ll spoil faster. Think of cucumbers as the delicate flowers of the vegetable world – they simply cannot tolerate the aggressive ripening signals from their fruit neighbors.
Most gourd vegetables tend to be sensitive to ethylene, including cucumbers. Cucumbers will experience an accelerated yellowing and decay when exposed to ethylene, especially around bananas, melons, or tomatoes. The result? Those perfect cucumber slices you planned for your lunch salad turn into mushy, yellow disasters within days instead of lasting their usual week.
Fresh Herbs and Ethylene Producers: The Wilting Crisis
Some fresh herbs are more sensitive to ethylene compared to others. Marjoram, mint, parsley, and oregano are very sensitive to ethylene. Others such as sage, thyme, basil, and rosemary aren’t affected as much. Your expensive fresh herbs from the farmers market deserve better treatment than being tossed into the same drawer with fruit.
When exposed, herbs will start to yellow, experience epinasty (when the stem curves), and leaves will start to fall the stem. In the fridge, herbs will last 7 to 10 days. The delicate cellular structure of herbs makes them particularly vulnerable to ethylene damage, causing them to lose their aromatic oils and vibrant colors much faster than they should.
Carrots and Apple Storage: The Bitter Truth
“The classic example is apple odor,” says Wallace. “And carrots tend to be particularly good at absorbing odors from other produce.” For this reason, he suggests keeping apples and carrots away from each other, adding that cabbage, figs and onions can also absorb an apple’s odor. Beyond just ethylene sensitivity, carrots act like little flavor sponges in your refrigerator.
“Both of these vegetables get very bitter when exposed to ethylene,” Ferretti warns. Nobody wants carrots that taste like they’ve been marinated in disappointment. Exposure to ethylene can cause broccoli and cabbage to yellow, cucumbers to pit and carrots to turn bitter, Strawn says.
Mushrooms and Strong-Scented Vegetables: The Flavor Theft
Like their yellow and red onion cousins, scallions (which are the same as green onions) give off a strong odor. Mushrooms, on the other hand, are highly absorptive—of water and oil as well as smells. If you store your mushrooms in the crisper drawer alongside scallions, they will begin to absorb the mild onion flavor and taste less like themselves when you pull them out to eat. Mushrooms are nature’s little flavor vacuum cleaners, soaking up whatever aromas surround them.
This absorption quality makes mushrooms particularly tricky to store properly. They can easily pick up unwanted flavors from neighboring produce, transforming your planned mushroom risotto into an unintentional onion-flavored disaster. The porous structure of mushroom caps makes them especially vulnerable to odor contamination, even through packaging.
Squash and Stone Fruits: The Yellowing Accelerator
Squash and pumpkins are well known for having a long shelf life but apples, another fall favorite (along with pears and other ripening fruit) shouldn’t be stored with them. According to Oregon State University Extension Service, it will cause the squash to yellow and go bad. Those beautiful winter squash you bought to last through the season can quickly become expensive compost if stored incorrectly.
Pumpkins may look tough on the outside, but they’re very ethylene-sensitive on the inside! Pumpkins, as well as all types of squash (summer and winter), will ripen quickly when around an ethylene-producing crop. The thick skin that makes squash seem indestructible actually traps ethylene gas inside, creating an accelerated ripening environment that ruins the vegetable from within.
Avocados and Citrus: The Premature Ripening Problem
Ethylene-producing fruits, such as apples, bananas, peaches and honeydew melons, should not be stored next to avocados, lemons, grapes, onions and other fruits or vegetables that are sensitive to this compound. Avocados are particularly tricky because they’re both ethylene producers and sensitive to the gas, making storage decisions crucial for timing your perfect guacamole.
Avocados don’t ripen on the tree, which is why picking the perfect avocado is quite a difficult ordeal. Ethylene production happens after the avocado is plucked from the tree, and will increase as the avocado continues to ripen. An avocado is ripe when it feels tender and the skin color has darkened. When stored with other ethylene producers, avocados can go from rock-hard to overripe mush seemingly overnight.
Celery and Ethylene Producers: The Texture Destroyer
Peanut butter on a crunchy stalk of celery is a snack that has stood the test of time (especially if you put raisins atop the peanut butter), but limp celery—not so much. Storing it in plastic is a no-no. The ethylene gas it produces has nowhere to go. Celery’s signature crunch depends on maintaining proper cellular water pressure, which ethylene gas disrupts.
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, collards, kale, lettuce and spinach. “These vegetables will turn yellow and go limp from too much ethylene,” he says. The crisp snap that makes celery perfect for dips and salads disappears when exposed to ethylene, leaving you with stringy, flavorless stalks that nobody wants to eat.
Broccoli and Ripe Fruit: The Yellowing Catastrophe
Similar to broccoli, cauliflower is highly sensitive to ethylene. The vegetable will start to yellow and the leaves will detach themselves from the stalks, so it’s highly recommended to store away from ethylene producers like apples, melons, and tomatoes. Broccoli represents one of the most dramatic examples of ethylene damage, transforming from vibrant green to sickly yellow in just days.
The chlorophyll breakdown that causes this yellowing also destroys much of broccoli’s nutritional value and completely changes its flavor profile. What should taste fresh and slightly bitter becomes woody and unpalatable. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., are ethylene sensitive. So, by the rule of the thumb it is preferable to avoid storing ethylene producing fruits with ethylene absorbing ones.
Asparagus and High Ethylene Fruits: The Toughening Effect
Asparagus. “Asparagus will turn tough or woody,” Ferretti says. Asparagus spears are meant to be tender and snappy, but ethylene exposure transforms them into fibrous disappointments that require extra cooking time and still never achieve the right texture. The delicate growing tips become particularly affected, often turning mushy while the stems become impossibly tough.
This texture change happens because ethylene accelerates the aging process in asparagus, causing the plant fibers to become more lignified – essentially turning woody like tree branches. Exposure to ethylene can cause broccoli and cabbage to yellow, cucumbers to pit and carrots to turn bitter, Strawn says. Lettuce and other greens, as well as some herbs, can also discolor or droop in the presence of ethylene.
Sweet Potatoes and Ethylene Emitters: The Sprouting Surprise
Many vegetables you store in the refrigerator are sensitive to ethylene gas, but what about those vegetables you typically don’t store in the refrigerator? Some, like sweet potatoes, turnips, pumpkins, and watermelon, are highly sensitive to ethylene gas, so keeping them away from those high ethylene producers is essential. Sweet potatoes might seem sturdy, but they’re surprisingly vulnerable to ethylene damage.
Unlike regular potatoes, sweet potatoes can develop an unpleasant bitter taste when exposed to ethylene gas for extended periods. They may also begin sprouting prematurely, which not only affects their appearance but also changes their texture and nutritional content. The following fruits and vegetables are highly sensitive to ethylene gas, but they themselves do not emit ethylene. Sweet Potatoes, Turnips, Watermelon, etc. do not produce ethylene but they are highly sensitive to it.
