Multiple Uses for Overripe Bananas
The many uses for overripe bananas. Eating bananas when they are just the perfect ripeness is healthy and delicious. But knowing when the fruit has reached perfect ripeness can be tricky. Most of the bananas straight from the grocery store are not ripe enough to eat right when you get home. This is because the fruit is picked prematurely by growers in order to allow enough time to transport the fruit to its final destination, and sell it before it spoils.
In the U.S., organic-labeled tropical fruit are ripened by ethylene treating them, exposing the outer peel to ethylene gas. This common practice is explicitly allowed by the government.
From planting through harvest through shipping through sale, organic bananas are treated differently from conventional bananas and won’t end up with the same bright yellow hue.
The tiny seeds within the fruit release a ripening hormone, a mixture of ethylene gas and carbon dioxide, which is needed to ripen them. Bananas, like other fruits, produce this ethylene gas. As the banana ripens from the inside, naturally, the peel becomes thinner. A yellow banana may look good to go, but it does not achieve its maximum potential until it has some brown spots on it. The brown spots indicate that the sugar content has risen through the ripening process.
If you accidentally wait too long and the bananas go from spotted to brown and beyond, here’s how to use those overly ripe bananas. But rather than toss out those overripe bananas, there are plenty of ways you can put them to good use. They will still be perfect for uses like treats, snacks, homemade beauty products, plant food, and all sorts of other uses that may surprise you:
Banana Bread
Banana bread is a classic, and one of my daughter’s favorite baked treats. If you’re looking for recipes, navigate over to my Baking section for multiple variations: Homemade Banana Bread, Homemade Chocolate Banana Bread, Homemade Streusel Banana Bread, and Homemade Vegan Banana Bread.
Smoothies
Peel, chop, and freeze your overripe bananas so you can add them to smoothies later. Bananas get sweeter as they ripen, so no need to add any extra sweeteners.
Sugar Scrub
Use an overripe banana to make an exfoliating sugar scrub. Peel and mash your banana in a small bowl. Add 3 Tbsp of sugar and a few drops of lavender essential oil, and mix well with a fork. Hop in the shower and rub your banana sugar scrub all over for soft, smooth skin. Bananas are great for body care. Their creamy pulp is luscious and soothing, and works well as a carrier for other ingredients.
Shoe Shine
Use the inside of a banana peel as shoe polish. Rub it onto your shoes, and buff with a soft cloth for a quick and easy shine devoid of any toxic chemicals. Bananas contain potassium, which is coincidentally found in, yep, shoe polish.
Ice Cream
Use a couple of bananas to make the creamy base for a vegan “ice cream.” You won’t believe how easy and delicious it is.
Hair Mask
Bananas contain vitamins A, E, and C and natural oils which prevent split ends, improve hair growth, and improve hair’s elasticity. They also make your hair shinier and bouncier. Add one banana, 2 Tbsp of your carrier oil of choice, 2 Tbsp of honey, and 1/2 cup of coconut milk to your blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is super smooth. Apply the mixture to your hair evenly all over hair and scalp. Put on a reusable shower cap (or bundle hair and pin to top of head with a clip), and let the mask sit for 30 minutes. Rinse the mask out and wash your hair as usual.
Egg Replacement
You can use a medium-sized banana as a vegan egg replacement in most baking recipes. Bananas replace eggs well due to their abundance of specific starches and sugars. Just peel and mash the banana, and toss it in.
Banana Peels In The Garden
If you compost, you already toss banana peels into your compost pile or compost bin. But, there are a number of other banana peel uses both as a natural fertilizer and as a natural pest repellent in the garden. Banana peels are nutrient-rich, thus make an excellent source of natural fertilizer for your yard and garden. They provide your plants with:
| Potassium | This nutrient helps your plants grow strong roots, and it also helps enable good distribution of water and nutrients. Potassium helps regulate plant enzymes and supports your plants in growing stronger stems. All of this works together to help grow strong, sturdy disease and pest repellent plants. |
| Phosphorus | This nutrient also helps build healthy roots and shoots, and it is absolutely essential for the successful production of blossoms, pollen and fruit. Plants that receive plenty of phosphorus grow big and strong. |
| Calcium | Roots and stems are also dependent upon ample calcium for strength and proper development. Calcium assists in breaking down soil nutrients such as nitrogen, and it supports other minerals in moving through a plant’s system. |
| Magnesium | This mineral supports healthy photosynthesis, which is absolutely essential for all aspects of plant growth and health. |
Brew Some Banana Peel “Compost Tea”
Create an all-natural liquid organic banana peel fertilizer filled with potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen using only banana peels and water. This combination feeds and strengthens plants and helps them resist diseases and pests.
You can Brew This Fertilizer Tea In Different Ways
#1
Place a peeled banana in a jar full of water, then put on the lid. Let the jar sit that way for a day or two, then strain out any solids. To use your fertilizer, dilute ½ cup of the concentrated banana plant food with one gallon of water. Use the mixture to water your plants as usual.
#2
Fill a large jar (2 quarts) about three quarters of the way with water. Set the jar of water in your refrigerator. Whenever you eat a banana cut the peel into small pieces and put the pieces into the water. Keep the jar of boiled banana water in your refrigerator for about a week. When it is full, strain the peels out and mix the banana water with a gallon of plain water. Use this “compost tea” to water your plants.
#3
If you’d prefer to make small batches of banana peel tea, then do this by placing banana peels in a 1 quart Mason jar filled with water. Allow the jar to sit (loosely covered) at room temperature for two days. Remove the peel and use the water as is for watering plants.
Don’t Throw Away The Soaked Peels
Use soaked banana peels as fertilizer. Dehydrate them and then grind them into powder for working directly into the soil, or make a slurry of the soaked banana peels using your blender. Dehydrated banana peel powder makes an excellent addition when starting seedlings. Mix a pinch into the starter mix in each pot be sure that your seeds get off to the best start. If nothing else, for a zero waste approach, remember to add the soaked banana peels to your compost heap or bin.
If you would prefer to save up your banana peels and process them all at once, you can keep them in a plastic bag in the freezer until you are ready to soak, chop, and/or dry them.
How To Dry Banana Peels
If you have a food dehydrator, simply follow instructions to dry your banana peels. Otherwise, you can dry them in the oven at a very low temperature (140°F). Cut them up into small pieces or leave them whole, as you wish. You should leave the door of the oven open just a bit to allow good air circulation. Stay around and keep an eye on them so you can remove them when thoroughly dry.
Pest Control
Working cut up banana peels into the soil surrounding your plants not only feeds the plants, it also will help naturally deter green aphids and other pests. You can also spray your banana peel compost tea directly onto plants to help repel aphids. As a bonus, your plants will absorb the minerals in the compost tea through their leaves.
In Compost
Whether you compost using a compost pile, a bin or a vermicomposting setup, adding banana peels (whole, chopped up, soaked or as a slurry) is a good idea. If you add the peels whole, be sure to bury them deeply near the composting coffee grounds so as not to attract pests such as raccoons and possums. Soaking, chopping, grinding or making a slurry of banana peels makes the nutrients more readily available to plants and facilitates quick breakdown of the peel.
Soil Amendment
You can use banana peels composted directly as a soil amendment in the autumn when preparing flower and veggie beds for the winter. Chop up the peels and work them into the soil or add them whole. On the upside, they attract beneficial insects, worms and microbes that will work hard through the winter improving the quality of your soil, readying your garden for Spring.
Banana Peels for Roses
Roses respond very well with brighter blooms and more flowers when they are “fed” banana peels and coffee grounds.
Planting Seeds Outdoors
When planting seeds outdoors give them a direct jolt of nutrients by planting a banana peel along with them. Dig a trench two inches deep and at least long enough to accommodate the banana peel strip. Lay strips of banana peels flat with the inside facing up and place the seeds on top. Cover with light, rich, well-drained soil and water, care for your seeds as usual. As they germinate, create roots and begin growing they will greatly benefit from the rich fertilizer created by the decomposing banana peels.
Make A Calcium Rich Banana Fertilizer Spray
Banana peel tea spray is good, but adding eggshells and Epsom salts make it even better, see my previous post on growing tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 3 dried, crushed eggshells
- 4 dried, ground banana peels
- 1 Tbsp. Epsom salts
- 1 Quart water
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in your blender or food processor.
- Process on “high.”
- Mixture is ready when all of the ingredients are thoroughly dissolved in the water.
- Pour mixture into a reusable spray bottle.
Trap Insects
Chop banana peels and place in a repurposed plastic container with a lid. Cover the banana peels with apple cider vinegar and cover with lid. Punch holes in the lid large enough for flies to get in, do this before covering with the lid. Flies and other garden undesirables will be attracted to the scent of the banana peel and vinegar. They will enter through the holes and drown in the liquid. This DIY may not trap every fly in your garden, but it will reduce them to a few.
Ferment Banana Peels
A fermented banana peel slurry is excellent for blooming plants. This concoction helps encourage bigger and better blooms. To create a fermented banana peel slurry, place a few banana peels into a mason jar and add water. Put a weight on top of the skins so that they stay submerged. Cover the jar with a cloth and use a rubber band to keep it in place.
Leave the jar sitting at a comfortable room temperature in dim light for about a week. This will allow beneficial bacteria to release the nutrients. At the end of the week, drain the peels, saving the water to use as a liquid fertilizer. Place the peels into a blender and puree. Use the resulting slurry to fertilize blossoming plants.
Feed Blueberries Banana Vinegar
Blueberries and other acid-loving plants will enjoy banana vinegar. To make this soil amendment, begin by fermenting banana peels as described above. At the end of the week instead of using the water as a liquid fertilizer, simply leave it in the jar. Put a lid on the jar and wait 4 to 6 weeks for the banana water to ferment and become vinegar. You will know it’s ready when the concoction smells like vinegar. Be sure to dilute it to avoid burning your plants.
Feeding “Air Plants”
Epiphytic perennials, such as Elk Horn and Staghorn ferns do not grow in soil. They derive all of their nourishment from the air around them. Spraying their foliage with a fertilizer is a great way to provide them with a boost of nutrients for stellar growth.
Set Your Air Plant On A Banana Peel
When establishing an air plant on its backboard or trunk, use banana peels as its base. Cover it with moss and set the plant over it. As the banana peel decays, its nutrients will be released for the benefit of the fern.
Sources:
This Is How to Tell If Your Banana Is Ripe Enough
https://spoonuniversity.com/how-to/this-is-how-to-tell-if-your-banana-is-ripe-enough
Elise DeVoe, College of Charleston
Can You Tell If a Banana Is “Chemically Ripened” by Looking at It?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chemically-ripened-bananas/
Why a ripe organic banana will never turn bright yellow
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/we-like-bananas-to-be-bright-yellow-whats-up-with-the-dull-organic-ones/2015/11/03/144ab8aa-827a-11e5-9afb-0c971f713d0c_story.html
By Jane Touzalin, November 4, 2015
10 Reasons NOT To Throw Out Your Overripe Bananas
https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/uses-for-overripe-bananas/
Jill Nystul, November 29, 2016
Banana Peels In The Garden – (12 How To Ideas And Uses)
https://plantcaretoday.com/banana-peels-garden-uses.html