the.com/ripening
the slow surrender where fruit decides it's finally ready to be devoured.
means The gradual process by which fruit, crops, or other things mature until they reach their full, usable, or peak state.
from From the Old English 'rīpian,' meaning to grow ripe or mature, tied to 'rīpe' (ripe) — itself possibly linked to the idea of grain ready to be reaped, a cousin of words for harvest. The '-ing' simply turns the act of becoming ripe into an ongoing motion, the long ripening hush before the picking.
- chemical signal
- Ethylene gas tells fruit to soften and sweeten.
- contagious
- One ripe apple speeds up the whole bowl.
- green trick
- Tomatoes shipped unripe, gassed ripe on arrival.
- reverse aging
- Starches break into sugars as flesh weakens.
- climacteric club
- Bananas ripen after picking; cherries never do.
bananas in ethylene chambers — commercial facilities use ethylene gas to ripen 15 million tons annually for supermarket distribution
bordeaux wine 1947 — château d'yquem bottle that took decades to reach peak ripeness, selling for $156,000 in 2011
stilton cheese aging — english blue cheese requires 9 weeks minimum ripening in temperature-controlled caves in nottinghamshire