Using banana skins as an ingredient has unexpected benefits

A study last year found that every time you throw away a banana peel, you're missing out on a great snack.

The study, published in ACS Food Science & Technology, found that if banana peels are blanched, dried, and ground into a flour, they can be turned into baked goods that taste just as good as wheat-based products.

And it turns out it's actually really food for you.

Consuming products made from banana peel means you consume minerals and cancer-fighting minerals. Sugar cookies that were enriched with banana peels not only tasted the same as peel-free sugar cookies, but contained much more fibre, magnesium, potassium, and antioxidant compounds.

In 2021, a study on banana peel cake found the yellow skin of the fruit provided a natural food colour as well as a nutritional boost. Whilst a 2016 study found that substituting up to 10 per cent of wheat flower with banana peel flour can enrich baked bread with higher protein, carbohydrate, and fat contents.

Not only is it a healthy food option, it also helps reduce food waste!

And the same goes for other fruits too, such a mango skin, what was found to boost a cake's antioxidant properties and improve its flavour.

Just make sure to add the right amount of banana peel to your bakes and makes. Adding too much banana peel flour did result in the study's cookies going somewhat brown and hard, possibly from all the extra fibre. 7.5 percent of banana peel flour seems to be the sweet spot, with the texture and taste hitting an appealing balance.

So maybe reconsider next time you go to thrown a banana skin away.

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