Upcycled certified packaged foods, root-to-stem cooking, at-home composting 鈥撀爄t鈥檚 all part of the effort to . One particular kind of food waste, banana peels, has recently been repurposed into a new kind of flour. In addition to being a potential way to 鈥渞ecycle鈥 common food waste, this new peel-based flour may also carry a whole host of nutritional benefits, infusing items like cookies with healthful essentials.聽
Here鈥檚 how researchers are turning would-be trash or compost material into a handy, healthful potential baking ingredient.聽
Banana Peels Can Become a Nutrient-Dense Flour
While the fibrous peel of a banana is seemingly inedible, it鈥檚 actually quite nutrient-rich. , the peels alone contain potassium, fiber, amino acids, and polyunsaturated fats. However, it鈥檚 not exactly the easiest part of the banana to use when cooking or baking.
But researchers are trying to do exactly that: Turn banana peels into a convenient, nutritious ingredient anyone can use. A 2022 report published in suggests that incorporating those peels into baked goods in place of traditional flours can have a beneficial effect.
In this report, scientists took banana peels, blanched them, then dried and ground them into a fine powder. They mixed that powder with ingredients like butter, skimmed milk powder, powdered sugar, and wheat flour. From there, they used the banana peel flour just like any other, creating batches of sugar cookies to test its flavor profile, texture, and nutritional values.聽
The biggest difference between traditional flour varieties and this peel-based flour? It wasn鈥檛 the taste, but rather the nutritional profile of the sweet treats.聽
The cookies made with banana peel flour were more nutrient-rich. They featured less fat and protein, and they contained more fiber, magnesium, and potassium. These 鈥渦pcycled鈥 cookies also included higher amounts of phenols and more antioxidant activity compared to typical cookies.聽
Just a Little Banana Peel Can Make a Difference
In their test baking, researchers tried out different amounts of banana peel flour. The cookies consisted of anywhere from 0 to 15 percent flour. 15 percent banana peel flour led to harder, browner cookies with a lot of fiber. However, with just 7.5 percent banana peel flour, the texture and taste were pretty similar to 鈥渘ormal鈥 sugar cookies 鈥撀燼nd it still created more nutritious final products.聽
As a result, the researchers suggested that baked goods made with even just a small amount of banana peel flour could make a difference in how nutritious store-bought cookies are.聽
Where to Find Banana Peel Flour
If you鈥檙e ready to start baking with banana peel flour at home, unfortunately it鈥檚 not yet readily available. This study was merely an initial test run, examining different amounts of the new flour and how it might be able to be incorporated into foods (specifically, cookies). So, you won鈥檛 find banana peel flour at your local grocery store just yet.