Mango Trees - Plastic Bags

[dingdongrb]

I live in the Chiang Mai area and have moved here almost one year ago. One thing that has always gotten my curiosity is why do the Thai folks that has mango trees wrap a plastic bag around the mango fruit? Are these to help it ripen? My wife thinks that it keeps away the insects. Anyone with a true explanation?

[sbk]

My MIL is an avid plastic bagger and her reasons are to keep insects off. Not sure if it works or not, to be honest, but it makes her feel like it does so that is good enough, I guess

[Rinrada]

Same as bananas...me thinks...

Bananas ripen by self-producing heat and ethylene gas.

To maximize your banana harvest, pick individual green hands to ripen them for use.

Seal the hand in a plastic bag with another ripening banana or a fruit like a red apple.

The hand makes use of the gas produced by the ripening fruit and speeds up the process.

[sbk]

No, my MIL leaves the bottom of the bag open to drain water. She puts these bags on when the fruit is still pretty small rinrada, so I am sure it isn't to ripen it. Besides, I asked her once, bugs was her answer :0

[JetsetBkk]

Same as bananas...me thinks...

Bananas ripen by self-producing heat and ethylene gas.

To maximize your banana harvest, pick individual green hands to ripen them for use.

Seal the hand in a plastic bag with another ripening banana or a fruit like a red apple.

The hand makes use of the gas produced by the ripening fruit and speeds up the process.

I'd heard about ethylene being used to store bananas in, but assumed it was to delay ripening during transport, rather than speed it up. You live and learn!

Thanks for the tips. I always cut the whole rack off when the bananas feel fat and round - when the sharp edge has gone. I usually hang the whole rack from a frame, but sometimes I cut it into individual hands. But whatever I do, they often take weeks to ripen. Sometimes they even go black - the blackness spreading from the stalk - before they go yellow, which is very annoying.

I've got a huge rack ready to be cut off now, so I'll try putting some of the hands in plastic bags.

Of course, there's nothing worse than the whole rack ripening at the same time - can't eat 17 bananas a day for a week - end up giving them away to friends and neighbours.

[Beardog]

Same as bananas...me thinks...

Bananas ripen by self-producing heat and ethylene gas.

To maximize your banana harvest, pick individual green hands to ripen them for use.

Seal the hand in a plastic bag with another ripening banana or a fruit like a red apple.

The hand makes use of the gas produced by the ripening fruit and speeds up the process.

I'd heard about ethylene being used to store bananas in, but assumed it was to delay ripening during transport, rather than speed it up. You live and learn!

Thanks for the tips. I always cut the whole rack off when the bananas feel fat and round - when the sharp edge has gone. I usually hang the whole rack from a frame, but sometimes I cut it into individual hands. But whatever I do, they often take weeks to ripen. Sometimes they even go black - the blackness spreading from the stalk - before they go yellow, which is very annoying.

I've got a huge rack ready to be cut off now, so I'll try putting some of the hands in plastic bags.

Of course, there's nothing worse than the whole rack ripening at the same time - can't eat 17 bananas a day for a week - end up giving them away to friends and neighbors.

We have 500 or so bananas ready to pop in 1 week stages. Same cant eat 100 bananas in a week so I just built a fruit drier.

They taste great if you don't let them totally dry out. And when their black or bruised their worthless -except for banana bread & I sure do not bake anything in Thailand's heat.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Beardog

[Rinrada]

Gotta buy a juicer....

[LeungKen]

Gotta buy a juicer....

Wow ripe Papaya !

You must have the most honest neighbours around - or doesn't anybody in your area

eat Papaya Salad ?

[bina]

bugs

[JetsetBkk]

...You must have the most honest neighbours around - or doesn't anybody in your area eat Papaya Salad ?

My g/f's mum complains about the local kids who get up at 5:00 am and steal all the mangos that have fallen from her trees.

[JetsetBkk]

...I've got a huge rack ready to be cut off now, so I'll try putting some of the hands in plastic bags...

We have 500 or so bananas ready to pop in 1 week stages. Same cant eat 100 bananas in a week so I just built a fruit drier.

They taste great if you don't let them totally dry out. And when their black or bruised their worthless -except for banana bread & I sure do not bake anything in Thailand's heat.

I've put three hands in plastic bags and three are just lying on the kitchen table. Let's see which ripen first!

My Aussie neighbour reckons paper bags are better - to prevent the bananas 'sweating' - but I don't have any (never seen paper bags in Thailand!), and also says putting other ripe fruit in with them helps.

[LivNon2396]

...I've got a huge rack ready to be cut off now, so I'll try putting some of the hands in plastic bags...

We have 500 or so bananas ready to pop in 1 week stages. Same cant eat 100 bananas in a week so I just built a fruit drier.

They taste great if you don't let them totally dry out. And when their black or bruised their worthless -except for banana bread & I sure do not bake anything in Thailand's heat.

I've put three hands in plastic bags and three are just lying on the kitchen table. Let's see which ripen first!

My Aussie neighbour reckons paper bags are better - to prevent the bananas 'sweating' - but I don't have any (never seen paper bags in Thailand!), and also says putting other ripe fruit in with them helps.

When I lived in Southern Leyte, Philippines they would make a paper bag out of old newspaper and put around all the mangos when they were small. The same newspaper bag as the street food vendors put your various bbq on a stick in here in Thailand.

What is a "hand"? Is that an individual banaana? I have always bee told to rippen banaanas place them in a brown paper bag.

[JetsetBkk]

...What is a "hand"? Is that an individual banaana? I have always bee told to rippen banaanas place them in a brown paper bag.

A hand is what some people call a bunch, and a rack is what grows on the tree. Here are 6 hands from the rack I cut down. The three larger hands had been in plastic bags for a couple of days and two of them started to ripen very quickly:

A few hours later, and two hands were ready to eat:

I don't know if the plastic bag test was valid, as the three largest hands were most likely ready to ripen before I put them in the bags. So next time, I'll put the second largest into a bag, and the fourth largest, and so on, and see which ones ripen first.

Edited July 15, 2008 by JetsetBkk

[JerryPara]

...You must have the most honest neighbours around - or doesn't anybody in your area eat Papaya Salad ?

My g/f's mum complains about the local kids who get up at 5:00 am and steal all the mangos that have fallen from her trees.

Our trees hang over the wall and they come in the open field next door and take them right off the tree

[nonthaburial]

Surely the more logical answer is to prevent bird damage to the fruit

[Samuian]

Bugs and fruit bats!

[Zeid]

people in my area place paper bags or dark plastic bags on grapes to delay the ripness and this means they will have grape at a later time,

[phetchal]

we use plastic bags or paper bags to protect fruits from fruit fly