Costco Shoppers Complain This Fruit Never Ripens

I love shopping at Costco for almost everything. During every visit, I stock up on steak, cheese, frozen goodies, eggs, milk, drinks, and the list goes on. However, there is one category that’s a little tricky for me and many others: produce. Buying fruits and veggies in bulk can save you money, but these items generally have a short shelf life. So if you don’t eat them in time, they go to waste, and you don’t save money. This is why many people buy fresh produce, including bananas, that haven’t quite ripened. However, according to a new Reddit feed, many shoppers complain that the popular fruit doesn’t ripen as it should.

Costco Bananas “Never Ripened” the OP Said

“Costco bananas we bought over a week ago never ripened,” the original poster writes. “They are hard as rocks, I can’t even open them. I’m used to buying them green and they stay a little green but are soft and sweet inside.”

Several Other Shoppers Had the Same Experience

“The same thing happened to us. We bought bananas April 26 and they just…stayed green. Then, a few days ago, they suddenly went brown. There was no in between,” another shared. “Same. It seemed like they either never ripened or they ripened super fast,” another agreed. “Yeah they were fine until a few months ago and now every bunch is like this. 3x in a row,” a third chimed in.

Many Have Stopped Buying Them

Apparently, this is such a big issue specific with the warehouse’s bananas that some shoppers have stopped putting them in their carts altogether. “This has happened a couple of times with Costco bananas for us so I just dont buy them. I dont understand what is happening with them lol,” one says. “My experience too. There are very few items at Costco that I wouldn’t buy. Bananas is one of them,” a second agreed.

Here Is the Science Behind It

One person explained why this occurs. “What happens is they forgot to spray the crop with Ethylene once it reaches the United States warehouses to kick-start the ripening process. The origin countries pick the bananas well before they’re ready to ripen and when the plant will have them produce their own ethylene gas to ripen them up, because otherwise they would ripen and rot during shipping. Picked so green like this, the banana are not ‘going to ripen’ unless they get this catalyst and then they can continue to produce ethylene which tells the cells to continue to ripen up. Basically ripening is a form of fermentation that is signaled for the fruit by ethylene gas, and if you have all the conditions but you don’t tip the process over into ripening, the starches don’t begin the complex process of breaking down in certain ways and the cascade of ethylene production never starts. Anyways they need to spray them once they’re safely in the states or near the grocers or at the warehouse, but some get overlooked and thus never ripen.”

And, Another Person Suggested This Hack

Another offers a hack alternative. In lieu of spraying the bananas with chemicals, “you can do the same thing by bagging the bananas with apples because apples produce ethylene,” they write. “Tomatoes do this too!” another added.

And, Here Is Another Hack

Here’s another hack, per a Redditor. “Try putting them in a closed paper bag,” they suggested. “And if you have an apple, pop one in,” another added.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Limes and Avocados Have Similar Issues, Per Shoppers

A few other shoppers mentioned that lime and avocado are also divisive produce items at the warehouse for similar reasons. “I’ve had this same experience as well. Their avocados sometimes do the weird ripe/unripe/rot thing as well,” one says.