Every time you peel a banana and dispose of the skin, you're throwing away a tasty, nutritious snack. Unless you're a devoted reader of vegan cooking blogs or a Nigella Lawson fan, you've probably never considered cooking with a banana peel. But not only is it perfectly safe, but scientists also demonstrated it really is good for you.
When their experiment's products were taste-tested, consumers reported they were just as happy with the flavors as they were with peel-free sugar cookies. You'll even get a generous helping of minerals and cancer-fighting nutrients. Enriched with banana peels, for instance, the sugar cookies made in the study contained much more fiber, magnesium, potassium, and antioxidant compounds.
On the downside, adding too much banana peel flour did result in cookies that were somewhat brown and hard, possibly from all the extra fiber. But when batches were made with flour containing 7.5 percent banana peel, the texture of the cookies hit a far more appealing balance.
As a bonus, the goods also kept well on the shelf for three months at room temperature. Last year, for instance, a on banana peel cake found the yellow skin of the fruit provides a natural food color to the baked product as well as a nutritional boost. A 2016 study, meanwhile, found that substituting of wheat flour with banana peel flour can enrich baked bread with higher protein, carbohydrate, and fat contents.
Not into baking? Nigella Lawson has , and vegan bloggers have recently popularized.
