I like to use very ripe bananas in cooking muffins and quick breads. I currently have three very nice bananas, but between my current muffin supply and my schedule over the next few days I don’t think I’ll be cooking them before they go bad, and frankly, I’m getting a little tired of eating bananas as bananas. Yes, yes, I probably shouldn’t have bought so many but they were on sale… oh, nevermind. Yes, I have too many bananas.
If I peel 'em and slice 'em can I pop them in the freezer? Does anyone know? Or should I experiment? I don’t care if it makes them mushy - I’ll mush 'em up anyway if I use them for cooking.
Yes, you can freeze them - and either use them in cooking like normal (once defrosted), or they can actually be eaten frozen - there’s a kiddie dessert which involves dipping them in chocolate and other goodies and freezing, then eating like an iceblock. The texture stays nice and firm from what I can recall. Good in smoothies too.
I actually think that baking with frozen bananas is better than when they’re not frozen first. They seem to get more… banana-y, for lack of a better term. And they’re moister. Maybe the wetness from freezing is what makes 'em banana-y. Either way, I prefer the frozen to the not frozen.
And I do what everyone else does - just throw 'em in the freezer whole.
The coolest part about freezing them in the peel is that once you thaw 'em most of the way, you can cut off the top with scissors and squeeze the banana out like toothpaste.
I also freeze bananas for later use in baking. I freeze whole ones for muffins or banana bread and I slice and freeze others to add to smoothies, pre-sliced ones are better for smoothies because there’s less to chop up.
One thing I’ve noticed though is that the whole frozen ones tend to be rather liquidy when thawed (possibly from ice crystals that formed in the banana?) so I often drain a little of that off so not to overdo the liquid in the batter. With baking I don’t like to change the amounts of wet/dry ingredients too much but I suppose you could drain it off and replace some of your liquid in the recipe with it since it should have a nice banana flavor and it shouldn’t be more than a tablespoon or two.
This is a kiddie desert? Fortunately I live by the rule that you’re only young once but you can be immature forever.
This will work and the fruit will be fine. But in my experience freezing and thawing will turn the peel completely black. Not normally a problem but just so you’re aware.
Yep, as you already know, freezing bananas works just fine. A couple of notes of caution, though:
[list=a]
[li]They’ll get mushy when you thaw them. Pretty mushy. As you’re baking with them, this shouldn’t be an issue.[/li][li]If you leave the peels on when you freeze them, the peels will turn black. This doesn’t affect the flavor or anything, but it can be disconcerting if you don’t expect it.[/li][/list]
Other than that, freezing bananas works brilliantly.
Purchase bananas. Not too ripe, mind, they might be mushy.
Leave bananas on counter top.
Notice bananas are spotting. Make mental note to eat bananas soon.
Oops. Bananas quite spotty now. Pop them in fridge to make them last. Must eat them quickly.
Find bananas, now brown, in fridge. Better use them for baking, then.
Put bananas in freezer for use in baking.
Discover frozen black bananas six months later whilst tidying freezer. Recall that one has never once made banana muffins, bread or smoothies in 12 years of marriage.
