Cook'n & Eat'n

There’s More to an Over-ripe Banana than Bread!

There are a lot of good reasons to applaud an over-ripe banana. It’s still loaded with health benefits and deliciousness, and it can do so much more than show up in a quick bread. Here are some good examples (organized into categories of uses).


HOME and GARDEN:

  • Attract birds and butterflies. They love the taste of bananas, so leave one out and watch what happens!
  • Fertilize your garden and landscape. Dry and grind the peels for a fantastic fertilizer and mulch for seedlings and new plants.
  • Effectively fight aphids. Just bury some cut up banana peels 2-3 inches deep around the base of the plant and it’s ADIOS for these intrepid pests. Works for houseplants, too.


HEALTH and BEAUTY:

  • Help damaged hair. Who knew? Puree 2 or 3 bananas completely (this is important); you may need to add a few tablespoons of water to be able to remove the puree from your blender. Massage this puree into your hair; let it sit for 15 minutes. Rinse and shampoo. This natural conditioner will leave hair feeling smooth and silky (minus all the mystery chemicals).
  • Soothe insect bites. The inside of the banana peel is historically known as an effective treatment for the itch that comes with the bite. Rub the peel over the bite, wait a second, and watch the itch disappear.


  • Combat facial wrinkles. Bananas are exceptionally good for the skin (internally and topically) because they contain large quantities of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamins A, B (folic acid), E, and F.

So nourish dry and aging skin by pairing bananas with heavy cream (a traditional go-to for wrinkle prevention) and pure raw honey to create this 3-times-a-week anti-aging mask:


Nourishing Banana Facial

Ingredients:

1 small banana
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon oat flour
pure water
rose hydrosol

Directions:
Mash the banana, using the back of a fork, and then add cream, honey, and flour. Stir to mix well. You may need to add a little more cream or flour to obtain the consistency of thick cream of yogurt.

Apply mask to the clean face, including the area around the eyes and the neck, and leave on for 30 minutes. Rinse off with pure water; dab or spray on a little rose hydrosol, allowing skin to dry naturally.

NOTE: Rose hydrosol is the by-product of essential oil production, and is created from the water that is used to steam distill plant materials. The Internet has many outlets for it; prices vary, depending on the amount. It’s also commonly found in health- and natural-food stores.


Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.



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MISCELLANEOUS:

  • Use for dog treats. While you may want to verify this with your vet, bananas have long been used as a safe and healthy treat for dogs.
  • Make “ice cream.” Pureed frozen (solid) bananas remarkably like soft-serve ice cream! We’ve been doing this for years. We like to blend frozen berries and bananas for flavor variations. And when you add some frozen avocado chunks, you have an even creamier version.


Exciting, isn’t it? There’s so much more to an over-ripe banana than bread!




    Alice Osborne
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com

Sources:
  •   www.bestlife.com
  •   www.canningcrafts.com
  •   www.thelist.com
  •   www.toriavey.com
  •   www.meubelstockmarket.com

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