Context: The passage below describes an experiment. Read the passage and think about the variables that are described.

Eliana liked to make guacamole, but she could often find only unripe  at the grocery store. In biology class, Eliana learned that ripe fruits produce a gas called ethylene that can cause other fruits to ripen. Eliana wondered whether storing ripe bananas with unripe  would make the  ripen faster.
Eliana prepared four paper bags with five unripe  in each bag. She added one ripe banana to two of the bags and no bananas to the remaining two bags. Then, Eliana sealed all four bags. After three days, she opened each bag and counted the number of ripe  in each bag.
Hint: An independent variable is a variable whose effect you are investigating. A dependent variable is a variable that you measure.
Figure: avocados.
Which of the following was a dependent variable in this experiment?
A. the number of ripe avocados
B. the number of ripe bananas
Identify the correct option from the choices provided and respond with the letter of the correct option.

A