Why are some fruits able to ripe even after leaving the tree but some are not?
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It has to do with the chemistry of what we call “ripening”, just two different biological processes with the plants.
Some fruits are designed by nature to ripen on the tree to be ready when they the tree says so, basically the plant actively controls the ripening process and without attachment to the plant that process stops.
Other fruits ripen due to the production of, and exposure to, a chemical called “ethylene” which can happen away from the tree.
A good example of this in your kitchen can be placing a fruit in a breathable container like a paper bag. If it’s an ethylene controlled ripening the fruit will ripen super quickly, like peaches or bananas.
EDIT – if you imagine ripening as a file update between a plant and fruit, some fruits require a hardwired connection to transfer the file and reboot the fruit’s system. Other trees download the file first and allow fruit to ‘active’ the update at a later date in response to an wireless “go ahead and reboot” signal. Ethylene is the wireless signal in this metaphor.
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