Natural way to ripen fruits

Dr Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com)

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) 
with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

When harvesting the rule is, "Pick only the ripe fruits."

Or pick those that are fully mature. They will soon ripen. But never pick those that are not ready. they'll just shrivel away.

Madre de Cacao or kakawate

Photography with Dr. Ernie.: Trees: Madre de cacao, gliricidia sepium dr-ernie-photography.blogspot.com

There are however, fruits that are harvested either green or ripe, or at a particular stage. Take mango and tamarind, for instance. And there are fruits that are harvested in their juvenile stage (kamias), or early maturity (breadfruit). Grapes and straberries ripen on the tree or vine and stay a little longer to attain uniform ripening and maximum sweetness.

Then there are fruits that fall off the tree when ripe. Guyabano is one. Avocado is another.
There are plenty of guava, chico, papaya, kasoy and other fruits in season that go to waste if you don't harvest them on time.

Leaves of madre de cacao or kakawate hasten the ripening of fruits.
Old folks use fresh leaves of Gliricida sepium to ripen banana, papaya, mango, chico, guyabano, atis, avocado, and others. The fruits are placed in an earthen jar lined with kakawate leaves. The jar is closed or inverted in order to trap the ethylene gas that catalyzes the softening of pectin and the conversion of complex sugar to simple sugar that resulting in ripening which takes around three days. Unlike the commercial method of using carbide (carburo), kakawate ripened fruits, as long as they were picked at proper maturity, develop natural taste, color and aroma as if they were ripened on the tree.

Rub table salt on the cut stem of newly harvested fruits to hasten their ripening.
Sodium chloride seals the base of the peduncle (fruit stem) and protects the fruit from fungi and bacteria that may cause rotting during ripening. Not all fruits though respond to this treatment, but this is a common practice of old folks on chico, nangka, atis, guyabano, papaya, mango, and the like. It is usually effective. Try it. ~