CEBU, Philippines — A limp banana turning the wrong shade of brown is a common sight – the slim turnover period between the perfect banana and over-ripeness means we’re sometimes caught short. When a banana loses its firmness it becomes hard to eat as a snack, but it can be mashed and used up in a number of thrifty ways.
Consider the shelf life when buying bananas. If you want to eat them over the course of the week, choose ones that have green tinges on the ends as they can be ripened at home. To eat straight away, choose bananas with small patches of black on the skin, which is a sign of ripeness. Store in a fruit bowl rather than the fridge, as the cold temperature will make the skins go black. They’ll also make everything else in the fridge smell like bananas.
Banana Bread
A popular way of using up bananas is in a loaf or bread, and there’s no shortage of recipes to keep you busy. Try a traditional loaf with icing, team it with Brazil nuts, or go healthy and eat a trimmer version with low-fat spread for breakfast.
Baked Bananas
Let your soft and squidgy bananas meld in heavenly fashion with chocolate buttons in these whole baked bananas. If it’s not barbecue season, they’ll cook perfectly well in the oven. Contrast all the steaming gooey sweetness with a dollop of ice cream.
Microwave Banana Pudding
The mashable nature of over-ripe bananas means they can easily be worked into a cake batter. There’s a pudding recipe that takes merely 20 minutes in the microwave, making it an ideal low-maintenance midweek pud.
Quick Banana Ice Cream
You don’t need a fancy churner to enjoy homemade ice cream. Chop your ripe bananas then freeze on a tray. Once frozen, whizz in a food processor with milk. It even counts towards your five-a-day – what more could you ask for?
Banana Smoothie
Another way of getting benefits from nutritious, potassium-rich bananas is to blitz them into a smoothie. Hazelnuts, mango, citrus fruits and berries all complement bananas in rather fine fashion.
Banana Pancakes
Go stateside at brunch time and flip up some fluffy pancakes with banana two-ways – sliced into thin rounds and mashed into the batter. Team with crispy bacon and syrup.
Banana Fairy Cakes
Use up your mushy bananas in a traditional sponge. These cake sale-friendly cupcakes with retro icing will go down a storm with kids.
French Toast
This decadent fried sandwich will work as a brunch dish or pudding, but it’s not for the faint-hearted – double cream, maple syrup, chocolate and mashed banana combined will knock your socks off.
Feelgood Flapjacks
Be a little more virtuous with a nutritious flapjack, packed with hidden apple and banana, healthy seeds, chewy apricots and peanut butter.
Banana & Blueberry Muffins
Earn brownie points by tucking one of these fruity muffins into a lunchbox. If you prefer, you can swap the buttermilk for yogurt. (www.bbcgoodfood.com)