Bananas are the UK’s favourite fruit but somehow we manage to waste 1.4 million of them every day. Yes, that’s just in the UK alone.
So in our local area we rescue as many bananas as we can, and these tend to be the ones that have gone brown. Sometimes the skins go brown because of handling but the flesh inside is still yellow and firm. You can check how firm they are before you peel.
To slow down the ripening process, keep your bananas well ventilated as the ripening process is triggered by a gas emitted from the stalks. Conversely, if you want them (or any other fruit) to ripen more quickly, put them in a sealed bag with a ripe banana.
Freezing bananas
However firm they are, they are easy to freeze if you can’t use them straightaway. You can slice and bag them (spread slices thinly in the bag so they are easy to separate and take out a handful at a time). Or you can even put a whole banana in the freezer and peel it as it defrosts.
Banana recipe ideas
Just remember, the softer the banana, the sweeter it will be so you can reduce any other sugar in the recipe (we routinely halve the sugar in recipes and counter-intuitively add some lemon juice for flavour. Try it – it works.) Some people use banana to completely substitute for sugar and also mashed banana to substitute for whole eggs or egg whites in certain types of recipes (like pancake batter).
Firm bananas:
- eat raw
- banana lollies – cut banana into sections, insert lolly sticks and freeze. That’s it. As the banana defrosts, it has the consistency of ice cream.
Soft bananas:
- banana bread or banana cake/muffins
- banana oat cookies
- smoothies – a handful of frozen banana adds sweetness and the chill factor to any smoothie
- banana pancakes or banana waffles
- banana flapjacks
- fried bananas – simply sautee banana slices in butter for tasty pancake topping – squeeze of lemon is good
- banana cream pudding (a simple trifle)
- banana chocolate mousse – just stir cocoa powder into mashed ripe banana, blitz and chill
- banana chocolate mikshake – blitz some mousse in milk of your choice
- banana ice cream – just blitz your frozen sliced banana with enough milk to make the consistency you want. You could substitute milk with peanut butter, a little water and dash of lemon.
- banana fruit leather – we’ve not had much success with this so please let us know if you have!
Banana skins
- Some people even make curry from banana skins
- Others make a potassium-rich banana peel water to fertilise other fruit growing in their garden. Houseplants are also thought to benefit.
Please let us know what you do with your bananas!
