Upcycled certified packaged foods, root-to-stem cooking, at-home composting – it’s all part of the effort to make food more sustainable. 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 “recycle” common food waste, this new peel-based flour may also carry a whole host of nutritional benefits, infusing items like cookies with healthful essentials.
Here’s how researchers are turning would-be trash or compost material into a handy, healthful potential baking ingredient.
Banana Peels Can Become a Nutrient-Dense Flour
While the fibrous peel of a banana is seemingly inedible, it’s actually quite nutrient-rich. According to research, the peels alone contain potassium, fiber, amino acids, and polyunsaturated fats. However, it’s 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 ACS Food Science & Technology suggests that incorporating those peels into baked goods in place of traditional flours can have a beneficial effect.
In this report, scientists took…
