It's rare, but every so often, not all of the bananas get eaten before they start getting too soft.
Don't spend a moment feeling guilty; the best solution is to peel them (if you don't, you'll have to shave off the peel once frozen), slice them (if you can, or just break up into mushy bits), and freeze in a plastic freezer-safe container, plastic bag, or wrapped in wax paper. Next time you have a hankering for a smoothie, you have the perfect ingredient waiting for you in your freezer: already frozen pieces of banana.
This also works well for other tropical fruits like mangoes, papaya, and pineapple, stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and cherries, and also for berries.
(photo: Makeiteco.com)
I'm not a banana eater myself, but some friends have noticed that sometimes, their supermarket-bought bananas never seem to get black spots on them. Their theory is that they've been injected with anti-ripening agents....which is really spooky.
MoM-Picked green, kept cool. That's my theory. I like to buy them when there's at least some yellow color showing.
Most memorable: A sun-ripened banana, just picked from the tree: Y-U-M! (in Jamaica)
i go absolutely nuts when my freezer gets loaded up with brown, frozen bananas. why peeling and slicing BEFORE freezing didn't occur to me, i'll never know. thanks, SKGR! i'll be much more likely to use the frozen, peeled pieces than the unappealing, random brown banana stuck in the back of my freezer.
Just last week at work I froze 1 cup of (local)strawberries, 1/2 sliced banana & made a terrific smoothie, using unsweetened soy milk (added 1 tsp maple syrup). So good!
(Yes, I have a mini blender at work!)
I freeze peeled bananas, to use later when making banana muffins & such. Right now I have loads, since my oven isn't on too much these days!
Bananas are not kept to be in the refrigerator. if they are kept it develops brown spots.
Overly riped bananas can be used to make flat breads too.
Receipe would be like this for one flat bread
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 tablespoons grated coconut
1/2 or 3/4 of a banana.( mashed )
a pinch of salt
sugar/honey optional.
1 teaspoon Butter/oil for preventing the flat bread from sticking to the pan
Mix them very well.Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Heat the Grease the pan with your choice ( oil/butter). Place 3 table spoons of the mixture on the pan and flatten it ( normally it is done by wet fingers )when the dough tries to stick to your fingers, wet your fingers in a bowl of water and keep flattening till the mixture takes a flat shape ( it should look like a tortilla )
When one side is cooked turn on the other side. Keep the pan closed so that it is cooked evenly.
Enjoy it on a maple syrup ( optional ) or a bowl of mixed fruit mixed in honey mixed whipped yogurt.
Serve it as brunch.
when i'm smoothied and banana breaded out, i use my overly ripe bananas to make banana curry soup:
saute 1 onion, finely diced, in a little oil til translucent, add 1 tsps curry powder, then 1 box chicken stock (12 oz) (i like imagine organic if i don't have homemade around), 2 (or more) bananas sliced, lemon juice & salt to taste, simmer for about 10 minutes. let cool & then whiz in a blender or food processor with 8 oz of greek yoghurt or creme fraiche. can be eaten hot or cold.