We are all aware of how nutritious bananas are. From making a dessert to having it as a milkshake, bananas have always been necessary when it comes to good health. An interesting fact, bananas are among the most consumed food crop after rice, wheat, and maize but we do neglect one thing associated with them. Yes, we are talking about banana peels. We often throw away the banana peels in the dustbin thinking they are useless but we are wrong. Banana peels could actually be of great help. Let us see how!
Banana peels are rich in antioxidants which help in relaxing radicals in the body. Besides, banana peels are great when it comes to moisturizing feet, curing acne, removing puffiness from the eyes, fertilizing the plants, and even helping in retaining the moisture in meat dishes. Banana peels don’t only have amino acids but also a lot of vitamins. Banana peels are also used to whiten teeth. Banana peels contain a higher amount of organic compounds and their decomposition in landfills is a source of many greenhouse gases like methane.
Apart from all these benefits, there is more thing that banana peels help in. As per some studies, dried and blanched banana peels when used in baking, can help the baked items be more nutritious and can even increase their shelf life. A recent study published in the journal ACS Food Science and Technology claimed that substituting a small portion of wheat flour in cookies with banana peel flour upgrades the nutritional value of the cookies without affecting the taste as well as the texture of the cookies. Some other studies also suggested that the incorporation of banana peel flour (BPF), when mixed with wheat flour while making cookies, has significantly increased the nutritional properties. As a part of the research, one set of sugar cookies was made by adding superfine wheat flour and BPF while another set was made just with the wheat flour. The results amazed everyone as there were visible changes in the terms of moisture, proteins, crude fat, and ash content.
It was learned that cookies with added BPF had improved antioxidant properties and total phenolic content while the nutritional and physical properties of the cookies remained unchanged. Firstly, the undamaged and ripe banana peels were blanched. Thereafter, these blanched banana peels were dried and ground to a fine powder used as banana peel flour. Try it yourself and get your name on the list of those baking healthier cookies and cakes!!!
Bonus, we have a quick and easy recipe of banana peel cake for you. Have a look.
Ingredients
- 3 bananas and their peels
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or maida
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
Method
- Take a mixer grinder and add banana peels, sugar, eggs, and oil
- Take out the batter and pour it into a bowl
- Take another bowl and add maida, baking powder, and salt
- Mix well and add them to the banana peel batter
- Mix to smoothen the batter
- Chop bananas and add it to the batter
- Mix well
- Pour the batter into the cake mould
- Let it bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes or until cooked
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve
Enjoy!!
