If your greens wilt the day after you bring home apples, that is not coincidence. It is a gas.
Ethylene is a colorless, odorless gas that plants produce as a ripening hormone. Some fruits produce it in quantity; other produce is sensitive to it. Its overall effect is to hasten ripening, aging, and spoilage.
The damage is specific and documented: a bitter compound in carrots, yellowing of broccoli, cucumber, and leafy greens and herbs, russet spotting on lettuce, leaf drop on cabbage and cauliflower, toughening of asparagus, and increased gray mold. Australian research showed longer storage life across many vegetables and strawberries when ethylene in the storage air was reduced.
The concentrations involved are tiny. A few parts per billion to a few parts per million is enough to shorten produce life; 0.1 ppm is the commonly cited threshold for effect on plants.
The two categories
- Producers to isolate: apples, bananas, melons, pears, peaches, and avocados. Tomatoes are moderate producers.
- Sensitive items to protect: lettuce, leafy greens, green beans, soft-shell squash, eggplant, honeydew, cantaloupe, apples, and potatoes. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, and mushrooms are also sensitive.
The practical rules
- Keep bananas, apples, avocados, and stone fruit out of the crisper where the greens live.
- Put a producer in a bag with an under-ripe avocado when you want ripening. Keep it away from mushrooms and lettuce when you do not.
- Wrap high producers loosely so the gas escapes, which slows their own ripening.
None of this requires a product. It is a question of which drawer.
Sources
- https://www.usfoods.com/tools-tips-and-ideas/tools/resource-centers/produce-resources/produce-ethylene-production-and-sensitivity-chart
- https://felixinstruments.com/static/media/uploads/docs/ethylene_101.pdf
- https://www.bryair.com/technical-articles/control-of-ethylene-in-fruits-vegetables-warehouses-and-cold-stores/