An unimportant question about Bananas on HAL

[3rdGenCunarder]

I've noticed on longer cruises that whole bananas are often not available after while but sliced ones are. One morning they had some out that they were slicing--they were unsightly with brown skins, I think from being refrigerated? They tasted fine. Not sure if this is accurate but I wondered if they were refrigerating them to extend their life. I've done that myself, on occasion, and the skins do turn brown. The bananas definitely don't taste as good but are edible.

 

Bananas will turn brown in the fridge but be OK inside. On our last cruise, I noticed that there were no sliced bananas in OJ at the Lido, as there used to be. The fruit selection wasn't as varied as in the past, which was disappointing.

 

BTW, the chemical that accelerates ripening isn't CO2. Ripening fruits do give off CO2, as any living thing carrying on cellular respiration gives off CO2. So CO2 is a simple way to monitor biochemical activity. But the chemical that actually causes ripening is ethylene, C2H4. Ripening fruits give off ethylene, so some ripe fruit mixed in with unripe fruit will "encourage" the unripe fruit to ripen. Or get too ripe, which is the origin of "one bad apple will spoil the rest."

 

Ethylene can be used to artificially ripen fruit that is picked unripe. I am convinced that some of the California strawberries we get in the East are picked unripe and forced to ripen later. They don't smell like strawberries. They have an odd chemical smell, and that's the ethylene.

[Topsham]

Kathy,

 

You are quite right... and you can get the ethylene naturally.

 

Easiest way to ripen bananas.... let them sit at room temperature... and put them in a paper bag and closed. They will turn yellow in 12 to 24 hours.

[WeLoveCruising]

I've noticed on longer cruises that whole bananas are often not available after while but sliced ones are. One morning they had some out that they were slicing--they were unsightly with brown skins, I think from being refrigerated? They tasted fine. Not sure if this is accurate but I wondered if they were refrigerating them to extend their life. I've done that myself, on occasion, and the skins do turn brown. The bananas definitely don't taste as good but are edible.

 

I've often wondered about how they keep the fruit fresh on Transatlantic cruises, or really any cruise with lots of consecutive sail days. I talked to the F&BM on Windstar a few years ago about this. He said what you are saying. First he said, they have professional storage and some of the technology that those green bags use. But he also said as they're getting near the end sometimes they cut stuff up to serve the better parts, and have to get otherwise creative. He said the menus on the last day have less fresh stuff, more frozen or things that least longer like apples and potatoes. That was Windstar, which is a completely different and much smaller ship than HAL. They also have 14 consecutive sea day itineraries. HAL's aren't quite so long and they may have even better storage options. But it was an interesting conversation I had with him so thought to share it.

Edited November 6, 2015 by WeLoveCruising

[Topsham]

I've often wondered about how they keep the fruit fresh on Transatlantic cruises, or really any cruise with lots of consecutive sail days. I talked to the F&BM on Windstar a few years ago about this. He said what you are saying. First he said, they have professional storage and some of the technology that those green bags use. But he also said as they're getting near the end sometimes they cut stuff up to serve the better parts, and have to get otherwise creative. He said the menus on the last day have less fresh stuff, more frozen or things that least longer like apples and potatoes. That was Windstar, which is a completely different and much smaller ship than HAL. They also have 14 consecutive sea day itineraries. HAL's aren't quite so long and they may have even better storage options. But it was an interesting conversation I had with him so thought to share it.

 

 

 

14 days? Food that is properly stowed and carried at the correct temperatures is not a problem at all. When the closure of Suez we made voyage from UK to Melbourne.... 42 days. The voyage then around the Cape again up to Alexandria and two weeks discharging grain... then to Gibraltar was the first port to get provisions... almost 60 days. OK... we might run out of bananas and grapes but we never ran out of good provisions. Milk? UHT milk is quite fine. Carrying the length of voyage is not so the problem. but more with the abilities of the Chief Steward. Sometimes known as 'Chief Stupid' or 'Thief Steward'!

 

Our menus were quite good. Certainly better than what most people would use in their own kitchen. Full cooked breakfast... as in 'English Breakfast'. Every Lunch ..... soup, appetizer, main, desert, cheese, fruit.... and again in the evening. Believe me... we had better 'bread and butter with custard' far better than Lido!

 

The submarines of today may submerged over months if they did not have good food they would have a mutiny!!!!!

[3rdGenCunarder]

I've often wondered about how they keep the fruit fresh on Transatlantic cruises, or really any cruise with lots of consecutive sail days. I talked to the F&BM on Windstar a few years ago about this. He said what you are saying. First he said, they have professional storage and some of the technology that those green bags use. But he also said as they're getting near the end sometimes they cut stuff up to serve the better parts, and have to get otherwise creative. He said the menus on the last day have less fresh stuff, more frozen or things that least longer like apples and potatoes. That was Windstar, which is a completely different and much smaller ship than HAL. They also have 14 consecutive sea day itineraries. HAL's aren't quite so long and they may have even better storage options. But it was an interesting conversation I had with him so thought to share it.

 

I've noticed that chilled fruit soups tend to show up toward the end of a cruise. ;)

[Topsham]

I've noticed that chilled fruit soups tend to show up toward the end of a cruise. ;)

 

 

 

Possibly because t they are not coming out of a packet. ;-)

[sppunk]

If anyone cares, one of the best books I've ever read was about bananas. It's called "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World" and chronicles how the banana trade helped populate the earth and all that. It even talks about the thousands of different varieties and how every few years disease kills the current version so they have to create new ones. It really is a tremendous (and quick and fun) read.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Banana-Fate-Fruit-Changed-World/dp/0452290082

[Kamloops50]

14 days? Food that is properly stowed and carried at the correct temperatures is not a problem at all. When the closure of Suez we made voyage from UK to Melbourne.... 42 days. The voyage then around the Cape again up to Alexandria and two weeks discharging grain... then to Gibraltar was the first port to get provisions... almost 60 days. OK... we might run out of bananas and grapes but we never ran out of good provisions. Milk? UHT milk is quite fine. Carrying the length of voyage is not so the problem. but more with the abilities of the Chief Steward. Sometimes known as 'Chief Stupid' or 'Thief Steward'!

 

Our menus were quite good. Certainly better than what most people would use in their own kitchen. Full cooked breakfast... as in 'English Breakfast'. Every Lunch ..... soup, appetizer, main, desert, cheese, fruit.... and again in the evening. Believe me... we had better 'bread and butter with custard' far better than Lido!

 

The submarines of today may submerged over months if they did not have good food they would have a mutiny!!!!!

 

US Navy subs now do 90 day patrols without replenishment.

[rkacruiser]

When I started this topic, I thought I might be "laughed off" CC!

 

I am pleased it has been of interest to others!

[Topsham]

How many of you know the correct way (monkey method) to peel a banana?

[Kamloops50]

How many of you know the correct way (monkey method) to peel a banana?

 

Yes peel it from end where there is no stock. Or commonly called the flower end

[cruz chic]

Yes peel it from end where there is no stock. Or commonly called the flower end

 

I just learned this a couple weeks ago. I've lived a sheltered life :D;).

[Lizzie68]

How many of you know the correct way (monkey method) to peel a banana?

 

Yep - my cruise buddy showed me a couple of years ago. Didn't know before that, though.

[Fouremco]

For the uninitiated:

 

Leave it to CC to teach me that I've been opening bananas the wrong way all my life! :)

[CowPrincess]

For the uninitiated:

 

Leave it to CC to teach me that I've been opening bananas the wrong way all my life! :)

 

LOL! Thanks for the video link, I will try it tomorrow. I suspect my hands don't have a good enough grip, but it is certainly worth trying :D

[Aquahound]

Worst part was the spiders. For the first 3 days or so, as the temperature was brought down in the hold, the spiders would come out of the stalks. When you opened the door to enter, it looked like a horror movie there were so many of them. We kept a CO2 fire extinguisher handy, and gassed them quickly to keep them from overrunning the rest of the ship.

 

Ugh! You just brought back memories of running into those banana spiders. Man, I hate those things...and they're HUGE! :eek:

[WeLoveCruising]

14 days? Food that is properly stowed and carried at the correct temperatures is not a problem at all. When the closure of Suez we made voyage from UK to Melbourne.... 42 days. The voyage then around the Cape again up to Alexandria and two weeks discharging grain... then to Gibraltar was the first port to get provisions... almost 60 days. OK... we might run out of bananas and grapes but we never ran out of good provisions. Milk? UHT milk is quite fine. Carrying the length of voyage is not so the problem. but more with the abilities of the Chief Steward. Sometimes known as 'Chief Stupid' or 'Thief Steward'!

 

Our menus were quite good. Certainly better than what most people would use in their own kitchen. Full cooked breakfast... as in 'English Breakfast'. Every Lunch ..... soup, appetizer, main, desert, cheese, fruit.... and again in the evening. Believe me... we had better 'bread and butter with custard' far better than Lido!

 

The submarines of today may submerged over months if they did not have good food they would have a mutiny!!!!!

 

42 days, 60 days? Wow!

Good point about the subs. My husband was on a submarine in the Navy, but I think the longest he was out at any one time was more like 30 days.

[3rdGenCunarder]

For the uninitiated:

 

Leave it to CC to teach me that I've been opening bananas the wrong way all my life! :)

 

Me too! Thanks for posting the link.

[Topsham]

Do you know the right way to open a bag (microwaved) popcorn? ;)

[chefestelle]

Those clever monkeys! I always split mine along the length but I'm going to try the tip!

[richwmn]

If anyone cares, one of the best books I've ever read was about bananas. It's called "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World" and chronicles how the banana trade helped populate the earth and all that. It even talks about the thousands of different varieties and how every few years disease kills the current version so they have to create new ones. It really is a tremendous (and quick and fun) read.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Banana-Fate-Fruit-Changed-World/dp/0452290082

 

Funny you mention that since this showed up on my news feed this morning:

 

http://secondnexus.com/ecology-and-sustainability/bananas-are-going-extinct

Edited November 7, 2015 by richwmn

[Fouremco]

Do you know the right way to open a bag (microwaved) popcorn? ;)

Are you going to tell me now that monkeys have microwaves? :eek: :confused: :) :D

[Topsham]

Are you going to tell me now that monkeys have microwaves? :eek: :confused: :) :D

 

 

 

Of course not. The zoo keeper has one.:cool:

[Topsham]

When finished microwaved.... open the slot to allow steam to come in. Not a big slot just a small one. Turn down and shake the bag a few times.... until the un-popped corn will sift down to the bottom. Then you can eat always as you wish... and you won't damage any 'pearls'.