Your grandma always told you that black bananas were good for banana bread, but they always grossed me out, and I wasn't much of a baker, so into the garbage they went! That is, until I discovered the joy of pureeing :)
There are 2 things you can do with blackened bananas. You can 1. put the entire things in the freezer until you are ready to make banana bread. 2. OR, you can do the pureeing right away and store them in freezer bags for another time if you are not ready to bake right at the moment! Stored banana puree can last for months, does not take up much room at all and oh yes.......is also a great first food for your baby! Trenton has just begun the joy of eating baby food and guess what his first food was? Bananas :)
Step one: Peel all the bananas and cut off bottoms and discard. Place on a cutting board and using a fork, mash them.
Step two: Put mashed bananas into your food chopper or blender. Blend for approximately 1 1/2 minutes, until they are very smooth.
Step 3: Measure 1/2 cup or 1/4 cup portions and put into labeled Ziploc freezer bags. Remember: name brand Ziploc is best. Other bags tend to leak!
Step 4: Freeze until ready for use!
One more tip: Food should not be frozen, thawed and then frozen again. This is the reasoning behind dividing purees up into smaller, measured portions. One recipe I used called for 1 1/2 cups of banana puree. I was able to thaw exactly 3 bags. Once you thaw fruit or veggie purees, any unused portions should be discarded! Baby food purees should be frozen in about 1/4 c. portions. Once thawed they can last 2 days in the frig!
Want a good recipe that utilizes some veggie puree too? Check out THIS entry from a previous day!
want to know a good way to keep bananas from blackening too quickly and DOUBLE The time? pull them apart and don'tleave them in a bunch as soon as you brig them home from the store :) It works!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that tip! Thank you, I will try it!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have also cut them up in chunks and put them in the freezer for smoothies!! Pair them with some frozen strawberries and yummmm!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI had black bananas this week too. Last time I made a yummy bread. This week I froze ours into banana pops. Just peel them and wrap in tin foil. Then when frozen just peel away the foil and eat the pop! It sounds strange, but pretty good. I remember eating bananas like this growing up.
ReplyDeleteyep, it does work :)
ReplyDeleteoh, and also, never store them anywhere near apples. apples let of a gas that makes other fruit around them spoil faster
ReplyDeletePulling the bananas apart does help! Also, I often just peeled and split bananas in half, layed them flat in a freezer bag til they froze (otherwise they freeze to each other), and then would take 1 piece out to thaw (in fridge or quick in microwave) to feed to baby. Often I would then mix it with cereal or other premade baby foods. This also is quick and easy for throwing into smoothies like aomeone else mentioned. oh yeah, do you freeze
ReplyDeleteWe also freeze soft bananas to use later for smoothies. A frozen banana mixed with milk and ovaltine makes a chocolate banana milk shake w/o the ice cream but gives the same texture. :)
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