Seven Uses for Leftover Bananas

Banana domestication began some 7,000 years ago. They are one of the most widely grown, traded, and eaten of all the crops. Modern bananas are sterile, containing only tiny residual seeds, so new banana plants are propagated from cuttings. Bananas have many uses and leaves, flowers, fruits, stems, and rhizomes are used for plates, food wrapping, medicines, stimulants, textiles, clothing, packaging, paper-making, crafts, ornaments, and ceremonial magic and ritual activities. Below are a few uses for the banana itself.

Pressing the inside of a banana peel onto a bite from a mosquito or other insect for a few minutes is a surprisingly simple way to stop itching. The use of banana peels to treat inflammation is said to be an ancient Chinese remedy to soothe poison ivy rashes, psoriasis, sunburn, and other skin maladies.

Tape a piece of the peel over a splinter, with the soft, inner side of the peel facing down and leave it in place for about 10 minutes. The enzymes in the fruit should help to force the splinter out.

Monarch butterflies are difficult to spot, but you can improve your chances by placing an overripe banana in your garden. They are soft and sweet enough for butterflies to enjoy. You can also place bananas near a hummingbird feeder to attract fruit flies, which the hummingbirds feast on. (Remove the bananas before you go to bed or you may have other animals like raccoons in your yard.)

While you are out in the garden feeding birds and butterflies, you can give your plants some nourishment, too. Cut up and bury banana peels to enrich the soil with nutrients and help feed plants.

Bananas have long been a staple in smoothies, but if you have a whole bunch that is about to go bad stick them in the freezer. You can pull one out any time you get a smoothie craving, and since it is frozen, you will not need to add ice.

Bananas are a great ingredient in DIY hair treatments and skin exfoliants. The amino and citric acids help protect hair from damage and keep it shiny. There are a few different recipes you can try, some of which combine banana with avocado, yogurt, egg, and other ingredients. Rubbing the inside of a banana peel onto your face (seriously, try it) is also said to brighten your skin, fight acne, and reduce puffiness around your eyes.

A recent study published in the journal PLOS One found that competitive cyclists who had consumed a banana instead of a sugary drink or water had less inflammation following their workout. Although other physicians cite the benefits of consuming bananas post-workout, the sample for this particular study was small, just 20 cyclists and was funded by Dole Foods (although it had no role in any part of the study). May be best to not experiment for the first time on race day.

Eight Healthy Banana Facts

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One medium banana contains 422 milligrams of potassium, or about 12 percent of your daily value of the mineral, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Bananas help keep you hydrated by helping regulate the balance of fluids in your body, especially the electrolytes you lose, like sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium after a sweaty workout.

One medium banana has 3 grams of filling fiber (about 10 percent of your daily intake).

Bananas are the perfect pre-workout fuel. Research suggests that bananas have unique compounds that can enhance athletic performance and they may help boost post-workout recovery.

One of the best reasons to eat bananas is the naturally sweet taste and soft texture that makes them an ideal ingredient in many baked goods. You can’t sub in bananas for sugar in every recipe, but you can look for recipes that have already done that work for you.

Bananas are rich in vitamin B6 and contain nearly one third of your daily value, which is important for brain development during pregnancy and enzyme reactions involved in metabolism.

Bananas contain a type of fiber called resistant starch, which seems to help people eat fewer calories and manage their appetite.

World's Most Popular Fruit

Over 100 billion bananas are consumed worldwide each year. India, China, Brazil, and Indonesia account for half of that consumption.
Bananas make up approximately 75% of the annual tropical fruit trade. In fact, they are the world's most exported fruit. The world's top banana exporter is Ecuador, while the United States imports the most bananas.

Bananas grow in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Classified botanically as a berry, bananas grow on large plants that look like big bushes. The name "banana" comes from the Arabic word "banan," which means finger.

Monkey and Banana Myth

Monkeys actually prefer leaves and insects rather than bananas. In fact, bananas are not healthy for monkeys. Bananas are too sweet for them. The UK has banned them from its zoos. They love eating ripe fruits, seeds, vegetables, honey, and flowers.

Incidentally, goats do not eat tin cans.

Banana Facts

The wonderful banana probably first grew in Southeast Asia, and did not make a big impact elsewhere until the early Islamic period when it was brought from India to the Middle East, and on to Africa. The banana turned up in Europe before that, but only as an exotic rarity. In ancient Rome, it had to make do with borrowing the name of the fig (a notion which lived on in the early French term for ‘banana’, figue du paradis).

Spanish and Portuguese colonists took the banana with them across the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas, and along with it they brought its African name, banana, apparently a word from one of the languages of the Congo area (it has been speculated that it derives ultimately from Arabic banana ‘finger, toe’, an origin which would be echoed in the English term hand for a bunch of bananas, and serves as a reminder that many varieties of banana are quite small, not like the large sizes imported into Britain).

Since the end of the nineteenth century Bananaland has been used by Australians as a colloquial and not completely complimentary name for Queensland, a state where the banana is a key crop. Even less complimentary is banana republic, a term coined in the 1930s for small volatile states of the South American tropics (from their economic dependence on the export of bananas).

Banana, Herb or Fruit

The banana plant is a hybrid, originating from the mismatched pairing of two South Asian wild plant species. Every Cavendish banana, the most widely known in the world, is genetically identical.

They are cultivated from cuttings under the ground. A banana (the yellow thing you peel and eat) is a fruit, containing the seeds of the plant. However, commercially grown banana plants are sterile and the seeds are reduced to little specks. The banana plant is called a 'banana tree' in popular use, but it is technically regarded as a herbaceous plant or herb, not a tree, because the stem does not contain true woody tissue.

Bottom line, a banana is both a fruit and herb.

Banana Myths Debunked

There is an old wife's tale that you cannot store bananas in the refrigerator. There is a reason for this myth, bananas do get a dark and ugly skin in the refrigerator. However, this does not mean the fruit goes bad. Also, they do not produce gas or other toxins in the cold.

Once bananas are ripened, they can be kept in a fridge. A banana peel will turn dark brown, making it appear bad, but the part you eat inside actually stays quite good. Remove the ugly peel and you will see the flesh inside is as delicious as ever. You can let it sit out for a short time to return to room temperature, if desired before eating.

Bananas can typically be kept in the refrigerator for about a week, which is significantly longer than an optimally ripe banana will last at room temperature. A handy place to store them is in the crisper.

Banana companies Chiquita and Dole recommend you do this to make the banana last longer in its perfect ripeness stage. Once a banana reaches its optimal ripeness for your taste, stick it in the refrigerator to drastically slow the conversion of starch into sugars, almost to the point of stopping the ripening process.
It is important not to put the bananas in the refrigerator before they reach the level of ripeness you desire. Chiquita says, “If you place your unripe Chiquita bananas in the refrigerator, they may not be able to resume the ripening process even if they are returned to room temperature.”
There are other ways to keep bananas fresh longer. For instance, you can slow the ripening process of a banana by keeping the banana away from other fruits, including separating a banana from the same hand it came from. Bananas put off large amounts of ethylene, relative to many other fruits. This triggers and quickens the ripening process significantly.

Incidentally, if you would like to speed up the ripening of some green bananas or other fruit or vegetables, put them in a paper bag together over night. The trapped ethylene will quickly ripen the fruit, and the paper bag will still let enough oxygen in to keep the ripening progress smoothly.  Also, putting fresh bananas in the same container as an overripe banana will rapidly accelerate the ripening process of the fresh bananas. Related posts LINK1, LINK2.

Seventeen More Banana Facts

Here are a few more facts about why bananas, nature's wonder fruit, are so good for us.

1. Bananas contain tryptophan which turns into serotonin after consumption.
2. The boost in serotonin is an effective and natural way to reduce the effects of depression.
3. Potassium in bananas greatly reduces the likelihood of getting muscle cramps.
4. Bananas are a great source of calcium.
5. Bananas have been known to reduce the prevalence of menstrual cramps.
6. Bananas are high in vitamin B, promoting the production of white blood cells.
7. Bananas contain a healthy amount of iron.
8. The FDA says bananas can help lower blood pressure.
9. Bananas contain pectin, which is a great digestion aid.
10. Bananas are natural antacids and can calm heartburn.
11. Bananas are one of the only foods that can combat the pain of stomach ulcers.
12. Bananas are known to be natural protection against kidney disease and brittle bones.
13. Bananas are high in antioxidants.
14. Bananas can normalize blood sugar levels between meals.
15. Rub the inside of a banana peel on a bug bite for quick itch relief.
16. If you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, bananas can reduce the effects due to their high level of tryptophan.
17. To quit smoking, help curb the withdrawals with the high levels of vitamins, potassium, and magnesium in bananas.
    (Make banana ice cream. Peel two bananas and put in freezer for an hour. Take out, slice, put in blender with two tablespoons peanut butter, or some chocolate chips, or bacon - blend, scoop, enjoy.)

Ten Uses for Bananas

In addition to tasting good, bananas offer many other benefits. These suggestions may all not seem appetizing, but they do work. For instance, you can make a banana hair mask to give you gorgeous hair, because they are packed with nutrients that your hair needs to be healthy, such as B-vitamins and folate. Mix a banana, whole milk, and honey. After blending the ingredients, put it on your hair and keep it for about 20 minutes. You can also drink the rest of the unused mixture.

You can tenderize a meat dish by cooking it with a banana.

To make your face glow, mash a banana and apply it to your face. Sit with it on for 15 minutes then wash it off with cool water. Bananas are natural skin lighteners because they have Vitamin A that erases discoloration and Vitamin E that provides protection against free radicals.

Bananas are a natural source of probiotics, because they contain fructooligosaccharides that encourage healthy bacteria to flourish. Probiotics are essential, because they balance the bacteria in your gut, which prevents the overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria that leads to inflammation. They are also good to relieve heartburn.

Bananas are rich in potassium, which is good for lowering blood pressure and helps to decrease stress levels and boost mental performance. A banana regulates stress hormones such as cortisol in the body.

Bananas can help you lose weight because they are a great substitute for high-calorie snacks. They are sweet and will satisfy sugar cravings without the calories. Also, they rev up the metabolic rate because they contain chromium, a mineral that helps burn more calories. One medium-sized banana contains 105 calories.

Bananas are high in Vitamin C, which makes muscles, ligaments, and tendons strong. They boost energy and make a good pre-workout snack.

If you have cracked heels, banana can help to smooth your skin because it has moisturizing properties. Mash up the pulp of one banana and apply it to your dry feet and relax, then wash with cold water.

Bananas are a good source of tryptophan, an amino acid that contributes to the production of serotonin in the brain. This hormone is a natural sedative. Eat a banana about an hour or so before bedtime so that your body can digest it and allow the tryptophan to work.

Bananas can fight and prevent headaches and migraines, because they are a good source of magnesium. The next time you feel a headache coming on, reach for a banana. Of course, Homer has his own idea for how to eat a banana.

Nine Big Banana Facts

Eating two bananas can give you enough energy for a 90-minute workout.

Bananas can fight against depression. This is because bananas contain a protein called tryptophan, which converts to serotonin. Serotonin helps you relax and can make you feel better.

Bananas contain Vitamin B6, which regulate blood glucose levels and can put you in a better mood.

The Vitamin B6 will also help fight nerves and stress.

Bananas are high in potassium and low in sodium, which helps fight against high blood pressure and prevent strokes.

Bananas can soothe heartburn because of the natural antacid effect it has on the body.

Bananas are high in fiber. This can help regulate bowel movements without resorting to laxatives.

The potassium in bananas helps you stay focused and alert.

The inside of banana peels can soothe mosquito bites. Bananas also taste good.

Google Compare

Here is another great feature of Google that might help improve your health and decrease your waistline. Google has a nutrition comparison feature that allows you to compare two types of food for nutritional values.

If you want to compare the calories, nutrients, and other values of apples and oranges, type in "compare apples oranges" without the quotes. You will see photos and a chart revealing calories, sodium, vitamins, minerals, etc. It also lists other normal results, like web sites, etc. I also tried "compare banana potato" and found there is only twelve calories difference between them. Very interesting and useful tool.

Banana Food Hack

Take two to four ripe bananas, peel them and let them sit in the freezer for an hour, then slice them up toss into a blender. You will get a smooth and tasty treat that is good for you. If you feel the need to punch up the taste, add two tablespoons of peanut butter or chocolate chips.

Save Bananas

I usually buy some fairly green and some not so green so they do not all ripen at the same time. Here is another method. Take a piece of cling wrap about the size of your fist and wrap it tightly around the crown.

Each time you remove a banana remove and replace the cling wrap. If done correctly this method should give you another few days before your bananas are too ripe to enjoy. Seems it reduces the ethylene which ripens the fruit faster. It it doesn't work, there is always banana bread.