I recently saw the commercial for Debbie Meyer Green Bags and for the first time heard about ethylene gas. I wondered what exactly is it? 

Well ethylene gas is an odorless, colorless gas that is produced in nature and also in the man made process of combustion. In nature, which by the way is the largest producer of this gas, our fruits, veggies and flowers produce this ethylene gas within their tissues and release it into the surrounding atmosphere. 

I remember growing up and my mom would always buy hard avocados and then place them in a brown paper bag. She told me the bag helped it to ripen, but how exactly did it do this? Ethylene gas is also known as the “death” or “ripening hormone” . It plays a regulatory role in the many processes of plant growth, development and eventually death. The produce releases this gas and if it’s trapped within a container for example a brown paper bag, increased levels of ethylene contained within the bag, released by the produce itself, serves as a stimulant after re-absorption to initiate the production of more ethylene. The overall effect is to hasten ripening, aging and eventually spoilage. A refrigerator acts in much the same way. Kept closed to retain the desired temperature, it also enables an increased concentration of ethylene to accumulate. Any closed environment, such as a truck trailer, shipping container or warehouse, will have a similar effect.

How many times do we purchase fruits and veggies to fill our fridge and fruit baskets only to have it spoil. Can you imagine the money you can save if you could slow down the ripening effect? There are alot of produce storage containers that do this. But I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of counter space. So that brings me back to those green bags. They save space, can be used in your fridge and reused. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Well I ordered them and I’m awaiting there shipment. You can’t beat the price and the practicality of it. If anybody is using them and has a comment on them please let me know.

March 17 Update: I received the bags on the 14th and tried them. So far so good. They’re easy to use and actually seem to work. I’ll keep you posted.

For more on Green Bags check this out http://affiliates.asseenontvnetwork.com/z/5190/CD7304/