Follow up: My obsession with bananas

My non-Singaporean buddy at work told me something interesting regarding my previous post on my sudden obsession with bananas.

Did you know that in the States it's not uncommon for grocers and shippers to use ethylene gas to ripen green bananas?

I'm serious here.

The shippers will ship in very very green bananas from tropical lands far far away. Then, when it's time to put them on the shelves, they gas 'em. As in, they load them on grates, shut them in a chamber and pump ethylene gas into the room to make the bananas turn from green to yellow.

According to the guys on the internet and a website about ethylene gas, they use this stuff on numerous produce such as tomatoes and avocados too.

These fruits naturally produce ethylene gas in small quantities and over a longer period of time, ripen by themselves. (Anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong.) So I guess these guys could argue that they're merely speeding up a natural process.

I'm not convinced. The bananas that ripen on their own taste a lot better to me. Perhaps, we should let them be ready in their own time. I know I don't like to be rushed.

And bananas that are rushed to be ready will behave just as I do when I'm rushed.

Not sweet or pleasant.