Why are bananas crooked? Not because consumers like it, it turns out. Too long, too short, too thick or indeed - too crooked. All reasons why as many as 40% of bananas don't even end up in the supermarket. Bananas with which there is nothing wrong, because crooked bananas are just as tasty as straight ones. And vice versa! But the perfect banana also has a hard time, because once in the supermarket, people prefer to buy fresh, green bananas. Bananas with a spot are thrown away. Thegreenlist.nl to the rescue: bet that after reading these tips and recipes with overripe bananas, you'll go looking for those just-not-perfect orphan bananas and jump for joy at finding a brown banana in your fruit bowl?
We know by now that food waste has a big impact on the environment. An awful lot of energy is lost in producing, packaging and cooling food, a lot of water is needed and a lot of CO2 is emitted across the board to get a product to our supermarket. It's a great shame if all that is for nothing because the products into which all this energy is put go straight into the bin: as happens regularly with bananas.
(Overripe) bananas are the most wasted produce
Bananas are the most wasted produce in the supermarket, according to a food waste study by Karlstad University (Sweden). Why? Apparently, we all prefer to eat flawless, yellow bananas. But even before the bananas are in the supermarket, things often go wrong. This is because European regulations stipulate that bananas must be unripe by the time they are allowed to cross European borders. Are there a few ripe bananas in a crate? Then the whole crate is rejected.
Saving bananas
Are you starting to feel sorry for those poor bananas that have to comply with so many regulations? Fortunately, there are more and more companies that care about the fate of bananas and are creatively going to war to stop the waste of bananas. The Banana Factory is one such company. They thought the waste of bananas was such a waste, that with the brand Sunt they make banana bread, granola and even doughnuts from rejected bananas.
Banana sweat: tastes differ!
Apparently, we all like spotless yellow bananas. This is the same reason that supermarkets throw away bananas with brown spots: nobody buys them anymore. In Japan, this is exactly the other way round. There, a brown banana is actually desirable. They see that blotchy skin as a sign that the banana is starting to ripen nicely. In Japan, they even have a special type of banana that you can eat with thin, brown, soft skin and all. Tastes differ!
In the left picture: banana bread. On the right: banana ice cream with leftover banana bread.
Here's what you can do with overripe bananas
But you too can do something! You can eat bananas from green to black and there is a tasty recipe for every stage. Below are a few recipes where overripe bananas steal the show. By the way, did you know that banana is an excellent is a substitute for an egg?
Banana bread
Making a banana bread with your overripe bananas might be a bit of an open door, but on a list of tips to turn your overripe bananas into something tasty, a banana bread really can't be missing. Plus, you can put a nice amount of bananas in it, especially if you decorate your bread or cake with a sliced-open banana on top. You can make your banana bread as healthy or unhealthy as you like: the internet is full of recipes! Can your bread get a little guilty? Then add some pieces of chocolate to your batter.
Looking for another fun and easy homemade recipe? Saskia made banana bread in no time a while back with the help of Pineut.
Banana muffins made from overripe bananas
Great breakfast stuff, these banana muffins. To do this, mix 200g flour, 75g yoghurt, 50ml (vegetable) milk, 30g oatmeal, 1 sachet of baking powder, 1 egg and 2 ripe bananas with some honey and cinnamon as desired. Does your dough stay too wet? Then add a little more flour. Too dry? Add a bit more milk, a bit more oil or another piece of banana. Heat your oven to 180°C, put your mixture in a muffin tin and bake for about twenty minutes until golden brown. The bananas give your muffins a nice sweet flavour, while you don't need to add any sugar.
Banana ice cream
Banana ice cream is a real summer favourite because it is SO easy! Throw your overripe bananas into the freezer in chunks and blend the chunks into a fantastic creamy ice cream a few hours later. Are your bananas frozen really hard? A tiny bit of (vegetable) milk will help to make your ice cream a little more creamy. Blend until you reach the desired creaminess. Bonus tip: add some cocoa and you get incredibly delicious chocolate ice cream.
Banana dessert with overripe bananas
Fancy something sweet after exercise or a super quick dessert? Crush your overripe banana with a fork and mix with some cocoa. A quick hit in the blender is also possible. To make your banana dessert even tastier, top your bowl with nuts, pieces of coconut or sprinkles. By the way, the amino acid tryptophan in bananas helps you sleep well, so this banana mixture is a great late-night snack!
Left: banana dessert. Right: smoothie with banana.
Smoothie with banana
Bananas are an incredibly rewarding ingredient in almost any smoothie. Adding a banana makes your smoothie nice and creamy, gives your smoothie consistency and makes it filling. If you don't like the banana flavour, add some other ingredients, such as spinach and berries. If you love the banana flavour, keep it plain and just add some extra fruit or oatmeal.
Banana mudslide
Beaming sunshine or just sulking inside because it's raining so hard? A banana mudslide instantly makes for a tropical party. For one cocktail, you need the following: 1 shot of vodka, 2 shots of banana mash, 1 shot of Kahlua and ½ shot of Baileys’ or Irish Cream. Put the ingredients in a blender with ice and mix. Of course, you can make your cocktail as strong as you like. Adding coffee or cocoa is also delicious!
Banana bar
A homemade banana bar is also a fine way to finish those last bananas in the fruit bowl. Mash banana pieces with toasted nuts, oats, cacao nibs for crunch and cocoa powder, a pinch of salt and icing sugar. You can let the mixture rise in the fridge in an ice cream mould or a piece of (reusable) foil.
Banana Pancakes
Anyone who has ever been to Asia dreams of it... Banana Pancakes! Super tasty, easy and not even remotely unhealthy. There are two ways to make delicious banana pancakes. For one variant, you make your pancake batter as you normally would (flour, milk, eggs, sugar) and put slices of banana in your pan before pouring in the batter. For the second variant, you mash your overripe banana and add the banana puree to your batter. In this case, you often don't need eggs. Serve with yoghurt, extra banana or sweet milk to briefly imagine yourself in sunny places....
Left: banana pancakes. Right: smoothie bowl with banana.
Curry with banana
Leftover bananas quickly invite you to find sweet recipes, but you can also use banana in various savoury dishes. We won't give you the recipe for the sauerkraut dish with banana that was popular in the nineties (try it at your own risk), but this curry with banana comes highly recommended: stew your pieces of banana in a curry of broth and coconut milk. Add onion, coriander, pepper and salt and, for some extra filling, possibly courgette or whatever hard vegetables you still have at home. Serve with rice.
Savoury banana dip
Guacamole move over, from now on you will have a tasty savoury banana dip on your drinks table. For this dip, mix a ripe avocado with overripe banana. Season the dip with some lime juice, coriander, a chilli pepper, salt and possibly some crème fraîche. Delicious with tortilla chips.
Here's how to avoid overripe bananas
After all these recipes, the chances of there being any banana left at all in your household seems slim, but just to be on the safe side, we don't want to withhold these tips for storing bananas.
Keep your bananas aside
Fruit naturally emits small bits of ethylene, a gas that speeds up ripening. Want to delay the ripening of your bananas? Then make sure you store bananas separately from your other fruit. Conversely, bananas can also cause your other fruit to ripen faster. Useful if you have a hard avocado lying around or your kiwis just won't ripen.
Bananas in the fridge
Did you know that you can store bananas just fine in the fridge? The cold slows down the ripening process. So green bananas will not ripen in the fridge either. You can also freeze them, but only in slices.
Be careful with your bananas
Bananas, despite their yellow jacket, are quite fragile. Just a little bump can cause a brown spot and these bruises accelerate the ripening process. So transport them carefully and do not put them in your fruit bowl under other heavy fruit. There are even special banana holders to hang up your bananas.
Overripe bananas? You know what you can do with them!
So versatile and still the most wasted product in the supermarket, isn't it a shame? Spots, a brown skin, just a bit small or not crooked enough, it really doesn't matter for the taste of a banana. So from now on, let's not be put off by a slightly browner bunch, but embrace the culinary versatility of the overripe banana. Orphan bananas come through: who doesn't want banana bread every day! And don't fancy an actual recipe or are you lazy? Then make Elvis Presley's alleged favourite: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - with banana! Also works as a sandwich, by the way, thank us later!
More sustainable tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Also delicious for finishing overripe bananas: this vegan smoothie bowl.
- Preventing food waste and storing ingredients for longer? Check out the best no waste tips.
- Jackfruit is a popular meat substitute. But how sustainable is jackfruit really?
Photo credits: main image: thegreenlist.nl, other photos: Mahlee Plekker.
