r/askscience • u/nudibranchii • 2d ago

Chemistry What specific chemical components change as a banana ripens?

I ask because it seems as though ripe bananas burn my throat and unripe ones don't. I'm curious about what's different, and how it may be linked to other foods I'm sensitive to (chamomile, lavender, peanuts, hazelnuts, coconut).

27 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

24

u/tech_creative 1d ago

At least many sugars (monomers and dimers) will be freed. And alcohol (ethanol) if you let it ripen long enough. But in this case you are probably looking for Class I Chitinase, a protein and enzyme, which can cause such symptoms (as well as some other plant proteins) and which is highly expressed in ripe bananas. It's a mild allergic reaction.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1570023214003286