Track: High School STEM Competition
Abstract
The banana fruit (Musa ssp.) is a major source of starch and labelled a superfruit by the American Medical association, and is a staple food in most developing countries. The banana is one of the most wasted fruits in the world, as it becomes overripe and unfit for consumption. A banana ripens due to the presence of ethylene, a plant hormone, which stimulates the formation of amylase, which is an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar making the banana softer and sweeter. In this abstract, a method to determine the ripeness of a banana-based on the physio-chemical reactions (which occur as result of the aforementioned ripening process) will be described, which has a potential to reduce the wastage of bananas by predicting the timeline of ripening.