RE: Saving a box of bananas - light humor [s]

[Guest guest]

Bob has a collection of rapidly ripening bananas and is looking for

solutions. Full text of Bob's post at the end.

_____

 

Hi Bob, great question!! Nicely orchestrated " collision! " :)

 

You can both refrigerate and freeze bananas.

 

Refrigerate bananas with skins ON. The skins will brown, the bananas inside

will remain fine for awhile. Depending when you refrigerate the bananas (how

spotted they are), you may find that you prefer using them in smoothies vs.

eating them straight.

 

Freeze bananas with skins OFF. Otherwise they may have little appeal -- or

perhaps it would be better to say " too much appeal, " :) when you remove

from the freezer. Because the water content of bananas is somewhat lower

than many other fruits (approx 75% vs. approx 90%, with variations of

course), the issue of separation of water from the tissue diminishes

greatly.

 

So, for example, if you freeze berries, when you remove them from the

freezer you will find berry water in the bottom of the container and mush or

semi-mush where there once were nice, integrous berries.

 

In contrast, if you freeze bananas, bananas will emerge. And since you

already own that vacuum machine, vacuum seal the bananas before you freeze

them. Getting out the oxygen is always a good idea for reducing, well,

oxidation!! I do use plastic baggies for this, even though I avoid

plastic. Just works well, and the chemical intrusion into the frozen bananas

is pretty minimal. I imagine some bags came with your sealer?

 

Frozen bananas can be a real treat. If you own a high-end centrifugal juicer

(Green Power/Green Life, ) you can push the frozen bananas through and make

a GREAT ice cream. A favorite intro food for some RF teachers, especially

those teachers who understand the importance of simplicity, i.e., minimal

food combining. You can add a few frozen berries or whatever, you get the

picture.

 

If you do not have such a piece of equipment, but you do have a food

processor, let the temperature of the bananas rise a bit, maybe 15-30

minutes, then put them in the food processor, NO water. Can also add other

fruit, similar picture. Once again, GREAT banana ice cream!

 

Personally, I like frozen banana ice cream better than almost every raw

dessert recipe I have ever tasted. I have from day one, and I still do.

 

CAVEAT: This post is NOT an endorsement for freezing fruit. (Already

addressed in a previous post.)

 

Bob Farrell [rjf2]

Thursday, March 24, 2005 6:50 AM

rawfood

[Raw Food] Saving a box of bananas - light humor

 

 

 

Hello All!

 

quick scenario:

 

~3/15 - bought 1st box of raw, organic bananas - fairly ripe/mostly

yellow

 

3/19 - decided to go on a short water fast (lasted 62 hours, by

design; all went well)

 

(can anyone see the collision coming up here? lol!)

 

3/21 - ordered first sampler box of dates from Date People

 

3/22 - bought a vacuum pump sealer kit (WM - ~$58.xx) in prep for

date arrival - already have quart jars...

 

3/23 - noticed that I still have a *lot* of bananas, and they're

approaching the " perfect to eat " state, lots of brown spots all over..

 

3/24 - get up this a.m., and am reminded by the fragrance of

bananas, and saw a couple of fruit flies...probably still have about

15-20 pounds of bananas at this point...

 

decided I out to do something quickly before they all rotted, I

started a new fruitfly colony, or my mostly SAD wife had anymore

comments about the bananas....

 

my thoughts at this point:

1. find some way to salvage them...

a. just keep waiting - they would go bad for sure;

b. put some in the fridge - not a lot of room for very many;

c. try some other " salvage " method - freezing?? I occasionally

use some for banana ice cream...not ideal, and I like it..

 

2. give some away;

 

3. throw them away, since they would quickly be reaching the old

banana bread stage!

 

Then, I came up with an alternative: I decided to use the vacuum

pump bags...put about 8-10 bananas (about a days supply now for me..)

into each bag, and seal them up. Mind you, I hadn't even used this

bagger/vacuum yet...soooo..drag it out, read instructions, and get

going....

 

End result: I've got 4-5 vacuum-sealed bags on the shelf, hoping to

extend their life for a few day, and I've got one in the back of the

fridge, on top of my wife's beers. I was originally concerned that

the vacuum would make banana pudding out of the still in their skins

bananas, but it didn't!

 

and, yes, I had a banana/apple smoothie for breakfast.

 

I'll let everyone know later how this experiment turned out...

 

have a great day!

 

Bob (5.5 months raw, 5 weeks all fruit, a few vegys, and very limited

nuts..)

 

ps - glad to have found the group, and thanks for listening!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Elchanan and Kimberly!

 

 

Kimberly, I'll repost something once I know more about my banana

rescue experiment.

 

Elchanan - yes, did that on all counts: fridge in skins, freezer no.

 

 

and yes, I have a " juicer " , a Champion, that I run the frozen bananas

through using the blank plate, and yup..even add some berries

occasionally - the berries I rescue and freeze them in ice cube

trays, and then put into another container..nowhere optimal, and for

a treat, I love them!

 

and a thought I hadn't shared (cuz it was almost *too* ridiculous), I

almost went and got one of my " space-saver " bags that you can hook a

vacuum up to, and suck all of the air out, and put all of the bananas

in there! lol! package would've been too big!

 

best to all.

 

Bob

[Guest guest]

Do you have a dehydrator... yes, I know some people do not like to dehydrate

food.. but in order tosave some bananas I will dehydrate them for mid-day snacks

and at the point they sound now it is a perfect time to do that. Why not do all

you mentioned and also dehydrate some.. well if you ahve a dehydrator..for three

shelves on my cheap wal-mart dehydrator it takes about 5 bananas... depending on

size.. then i also freeze. use them in my blender for smoothies instead of the

ice. I buy strawberries and freeze also and do the same.. My smoothies are

cooooooold and yummy...

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

:) about the space saver idea!

 

Bob Farrell [rjf2]

Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:32 AM

rawfood

Re: [Raw Food] Saving a box of bananas - light humor

 

 

 

Thanks, Elchanan and Kimberly!

 

 

Kimberly, I'll repost something once I know more about my banana

rescue experiment.

 

Elchanan - yes, did that on all counts: fridge in skins, freezer no.

 

 

and yes, I have a " juicer " , a Champion, that I run the frozen bananas

through using the blank plate, and yup..even add some berries

occasionally - the berries I rescue and freeze them in ice cube

trays, and then put into another container..nowhere optimal, and for

a treat, I love them!

 

and a thought I hadn't shared (cuz it was almost *too* ridiculous), I

almost went and got one of my " space-saver " bags that you can hook a

vacuum up to, and suck all of the air out, and put all of the bananas

in there! lol! package would've been too big!

 

best to all.

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

thanks, Gypsi!

 

yes, I do have a dehydrator (recently put away...avoiding using it

for now...); good idea...can definitely add to the list.

 

regards,

 

Bob

[Guest guest]

Remember 2 things:

 

1. DehydratED on the outside is dehydratING on the inside.

2. Dehydrating sweet fruits MAY contribute to some teeth problems over time.

Another post.

Elchanan

 

 

Bob Farrell [rjf2]

Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:45 AM

rawfood

Re: [Raw Food] Saving a box of bananas - light humor

 

 

 

thanks, Gypsi!

 

yes, I do have a dehydrator (recently put away...avoiding using it

for now...); good idea...can definitely add to the list.

 

regards,

 

Bob