Apples keeping potatoes fresh

corblimey

Ok, here's a question that others would be too embarrassed to ask, but not me. I buy potatoes and store them next to apples, based on various information I've found on keeping potatoes fresh. It seems to work, but here's the thing: when the potatoes are all gone, can I still eat those apples? I can't imagine why not, but the science of how a few apples stops potatoes from sprouting leads me to wonder if some sort of chemical reaction is happening that would render the apples tasteless and/or harmful.

Magic Monkey

The apples are safe to eat. They merely give off ethylene gas which inhibits the potatoes from sprouting. Ethylene gas will also ripen fruit, so to quickly turn any unripe bananas ripe, for example, put them in a loosly closed paper bag with an apple or two.

Pembily

Magic Monkey wrote: »

The apples are safe to eat. They merely give off ethylene gas which inhibits the potatoes from sprouting. Ethylene gas will also ripen fruit, so to quickly turn any unripe bananas ripe, for example, put them in a loosly closed paper bag with an apple or two.

Works with hard avacado too - put in the cupboard or fruit bowl with fruit and ripens perfectly :)

brianthebard

Magic Monkey wrote: »

The apples are safe to eat. They merely give off ethylene gas which inhibits the potatoes from sprouting. Ethylene gas will also ripen fruit, so to quickly turn any unripe bananas ripe, for example, put them in a loosly closed paper bag with an apple or two.

I thought it worked the other way around, that bananas will ripen other fruits, or perhaps there are number of fruits that produce this gas?

Magic Monkey

The ripening process by ethylene gas (for bananas) is explained here. Yes, it seems bananas, apples, and many other fruits produce it.