A fruit and veg expert says there are two reasons not to throw overripe bananas away (Image: Getty)
Many of us are guilty of throwing away bananas once they have become overripe and brown – however, an expert in fresh produce says there are two ways you can still get the best out of the exotic .
In fact, according to , Brits discard a staggering 115 bananas a year each, equating to 3.2 billion, based on 28.4 million UK households. Joe Clark, who also shares online guides on how to grow your own fruit and vegetables, took to to offer his banana advice.
Holding up several bananas that had started to brown significantly, he began: “Next time your bananas start to look like this, you can use them to make a quick treat for you and and your plants.” Joe explained: “Sometimes old bananas are just thrown away, which is a real shame as they have so many uses.”
First Joe peeled his bananas – putting the skins to one side for later – before mashing the fruit up in a bowl. He added brown sugar and self raising flour and mixed the ingredients together until it formed a dough.
“Roll out [with a rolling pin on a flat surface] until it’s about 1cm thick, brush on some melted butter and sprinkle some cinnamon – then slice and roll into buns and bake on gas mark 5 for about 25 minutes,” he added. “This will give you the most delicious zero-waste banana cinnamon swirls, which truly are amazing.”
Joe advised, however: “Now the mixture can be incredibly sticky so please add flour to your surface and rolling pin and wet your hands to stop this all becoming a sticky mess. For every 150g of banana I use 110g of flour and 1 cup of brown sugar.”
But what about the skins? “Bake them at the same time as the pastries to save time and energy,” Joe suggested. Once cooked, he added the skins to a sandwich bag and applied the rolling pin to crush them into a powder. “This can act as a little booster for your plants,” he said.
Joe closed: “Banana skins are packed full of nutrients our plants love, and by breaking it down into powder, it stops flies in your soil, and lasts a lot longer than the viral banana water I’m sure we have all seen online.”
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Adding their own banana skin tip, one user penned in response: “I take the banana skins and soak them in warm water for as long as 2 to 24 hours. No rules. Then I water my plants with that water. Amazing fertilser!”
A second hailed Joe’s content: “Never skip your videos. You’re the most wholesome dude on the internet! Love your videos so much!” A third praised: “That’s an absolutely cool idea, something new the grandkids will love. God bless.”
Whilst a fourth shared a further idea: “I throw my ripe bananas in the freezer and whenever I want a treat, I turn them into banana bread.”