The Surprisingly Simple Trick That Banishes Fruit Flies For Good

You’ve done the hard part—you remembered to buy fruit. You made it home. You even put the bananas in the cute ceramic fruit bowl you swore you’d start using more. And then? By midweek, your kitchen becomes a full-blown fruit fly rave.

Sound familiar?

Let me let you in on the hack I wish I’d learned years ago: Wash. Your. Bananas.

Yep. Just like you rinse your lettuce or scrub your potatoes, your bananas deserve a quick spa day under the faucet. And not just for vanity’s sake—this little rinse is your best defense against those tiny, annoying, floating menaces.

Wait… Why Are Fruit Flies Even Here?

Here’s the gross-but-fascinating truth: Fruit flies aren’t just teleporting into your kitchen. They’re hitchhiking in from the grocery store—on your bananas.

Apparently, fruit flies like to lay their eggs on the skins of bananas. (We’ll give you a second to squirm.) You bring the bananas home, unknowingly hosting a little party of future flyers, and by the time the fruit hits peak ripeness… boom. The babies have hatched, and you’re wondering why your kitchen suddenly feels like a bug hotel.

The 30-Second Hack That Actually Works

So, I tried something. On a random Monday, I rinsed my bananas under cool tap water for about 30 seconds, let them dry on a dish towel, and then popped them back in the fruit bowl like usual. I didn’t think much of it—until Friday rolled around, and something magical happened:

No. Fruit. Flies.

None. Not a single winged intruder dive-bombing my glass of wine. And if you know how fast fruit flies multiply (about a week from egg to airborne annoyance), you know that’s not nothing.

I've been rinsing my weekly banana haul ever since, and guess what? Still no flies. I even started rinsing other countertop produce—avocados, peaches, plums, zucchini—and my kitchen? Blissfully bug-free.

Try It Yourself — Here’s How

You’ll need:

• 1 bunch of bananas

• Tap water

• A dish towel

What to do:

1. Rinse the bananas under cool tap water for about 30 seconds.

2. Let them air dry on a towel, or give them a gentle rubdown to speed things up.

3. Place them back in your fruit bowl.

That’s it. Really.

But Why Does This Work?

Fruit flies are obsessed with fermenting fruit. The smell of ripening bananas is basically their version of a neon “OPEN” sign. The eggs on the peel? They hatch fast. Like, disturbingly fast—within a few days. That’s why your fruit bowl goes from chic to chaos by Friday.

Washing the bananas removes the eggs before they get the chance to hatch and start a generational takeover in your kitchen. Problem. Solved.