Cooking Lovers
May 4th 2021 ・ 4 min reading
At Chiquita, we are fully committed to sustainability, which means we want to make sure none of our tasty, high quality bananas ever go to waste. Food waste is a hot topic – around one third of food bought globally goes to waste (around 1.3 billion tons), worth $1 trillion. You can help to reduce food waste by freezing your bananas instead of throwing them out.
With a little help from your freezer, you can have the perfect ingredient handy for all kinds of delicious recipes. Banana bread using frozen bananas? You bet! Below we’ll look at the important steps in freezing bananas, and some mouth-watering recipes for using your frozen feast.
Steps in freezing bananas:
- Peel your banana
If you want to freeze bananas, don’t forget to peel them first! While it might seem like the easiest thing to do, if you freeze a banana whole, the skin will go black and soft and will stick tightly to the fruit, so it becomes nearly impossible to remove when you come to defrost it. - Decide whether to keep your bananas whole or sliced
To slice, or not to slice, that is the question… A lot will depend on how much room you have in your freezer. If you have room for a container, freezing bananas whole is both easy and useful in terms of measurement – there’s no doubt about how much banana you’ve got when you’re looking for a particular amount in a recipe! Separating them with little strips of baking paper will ensure they aren’t difficult to pry apart.
However, slices of banana stored in a freezer-safe bag are a good alternative and for some recipes where the banana has to stay frozen, they are essential. Here’s the best way to freeze them:
- Freeze banana slices individually by placing chunks roughly ¾ to 1 inch thick on a baking sheet in a single layer, on greaseproof paper.
- Slide them into the freezer for two to three hours until they’re solid.
- Once your banana slices are frozen, gather them together and transfer them to a container or bag.
If you’re not worried about banana slices sticking together, or don’t have room for a tray in your freezer, why not use small bags to freeze individual chopped-up bananas – this way, you’ll always be sure of your portion size.
How do I make sure my bananas don’t go brown?
If you freeze bananas immediately after you peel them, whether they are being frozen whole or sliced, they won’t go brown. If you leave bananas out of their peel for any period outside the freezer, sprinkling them with lemon, pineapple or lime juice will kill off unwanted bacteria and keep them a lovely creamy color.
Defrosting bananas
You may not always want to defrost your frozen bananas, because for some recipes they’ll be great just as they are. However, when you freeze a banana it will be very soft when you bring it to room temperature, there’s no reason why it can’t still make a great baking ingredient. Just let the banana defrost for a couple of hours at room temperature and remember that you can use any liquid that may come out during defrosting as well as the flesh, either in your cooking or for a smoothie.
Frozen banana recipes by Chiquita
Below, we have some great new recipes that will give you some good ideas for exciting ways to use your frozen bananas. Let’s have a look!
Frozen banana nice cream by Chiquita
This easy-to-make ice cream is a great, healthy way to give yourself and the family a delicious treat. This simple recipe features frozen bananas, whizzed up straight from the freezer, to make a wonderfully creamy treat that kids will love. Here’s where having some chopped slices of frozen banana will come in handy, because it’s much easier to blend banana pieces than a whole frozen banana. You’ll be amazed by the great texture of this ice cream, which is as good as many store-bought brands, we promise!
Frozen banana & matcha smoothie By Chiquita
Banana smoothies are just the best! We have lots of recipes on our website for smoothies that use fresh, chopped bananas, and this one takes our favorite healthy, tasty treat one step further for the perfect summer cool-down snack. Blend frozen banana chunks with a milk of your choice (almond, oat, dairy or coconut) and add cinnamon, honey and walnuts for a flavorful, luxurious smoothie that’s perfect for winding down after a run or workout.
The great thing about freezing bananas is that you can buy as many as you want at the store with confidence: a bunch for freezing and a bunch for eating! That way, you’ll always have a tasty Chiquita banana ready for whenever you need a delicious, healthy snack, and you can be sure you’ll never waste a banana again.
