Introduction. The peel of bananas that ripen at ≥ 24 ℃ does not turn fullyyellow, but retains a green colour, reducing the commercial value of the fruit.Historically, in experimental studies of this problem, fruit are ripened at constanttemperatures; for example, either 20 ℃ or 30 ℃. In our experiments, we systematicallyvaried the temperature of banana storage during ripening to investigate early events inripening that may determine whether or not the peel remained green. Materials andmethods. Fruits were exposed to temperatures of 20 ℃ or 30 ℃ for short periodsbefore then storing at 30 ℃ or 20 ℃ to complete ripening. The L* a* b*colour system was used to measure change in green colour in the banana peel.Results. If the temperature of the fruit stored was 20 ℃ for the first fewhours (≥ 14 h), then the peel became fully yellow, even in fruit subsequently ripened at30 ℃. Conversely, if the temperature of the bananas stored was 30 ℃ for the first fewhours of ripening, then full yellow colour was not obtained even if fruits weresubsequently ripened at 20 ℃. Conclusion. The temperature of the first few hours of bananaripening determines whether or not the peel reaches full yellow colour.