When Bananas Go Bad

Lately, my kids have lost their interest in eating bananas. They'll eat one and then leave the rest to ripen to extreme blackness, untouched. I personally only like bananas when they are just turning yellow and nearly still green. Anything riper than that and they're too sweet for me. So lately, I just don't buy them. But when I do and they end up looking like this...it's decision time.

I struggle whether to throw them away or make a batch of banana bread. Because let's face it, we never set out to make banana bread. We're forced into it as we witness the shadows overtake uneaten fruit sitting in full display on the kitchen counter. "It's a sad state when bananas go bad..." Reluctantly, since I don't like to waste food, I cave to the quiet torment of cast-off bananas and decide to make bread. Ugh! I don't like to be pressured into anything and especially not from rotting fruit. What if I'm in a hurry that day or worse what if it's summertime? There's no way I'm turning on the oven to bake some bread when it's 90 degrees out. No way Banana!

Here's a way to save the bananas without having to actually make banana bread until you're damn well ready. :) This is not a new idea, nor is it mine, but felt that it should be mentioned that bananas can be preserved with lemon juice and then frozen. Super easy! That way, when the weather gets cooler, or when you feel like making banana nut muffins for breakfast one morning, you'll be all set with super sweet ripe bananas.

Here's the easy step by step:

1.  Peel ripe bananas and place in a large measuring cup and mash until there are no lumps. (~4 bananas=1 1/2 cup)

Make your batches of preserved bananas into 1 1/2 cup servings or to the quantity needed in your banana bread/muffin recipe. Makes it easy to just thaw and dump it into your recipe with out having to measure.

2. Juice one lemon and add 1 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice to the 1-1/2 cups of mashed bananas.

The lemon preserves the color of the bananas so they won't darken further while frozen.
In addition, if your banana bread recipe calls for using buttermilk, you can now just add regular milk in the recipe because the lemon present in the banana mixture adds the needed acid that is called out when you don't have buttermilk but can substitution with sour milk.
Here's the buttermilk substitution ratio for reference:
1 cup buttermilk-- substitute with 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make up 1 cup.

3. Transfer the bananas into a freezer bag and label and date your bananas. Store in your freezer for up to six months. Thaw and use when ready. Easy-Breezy! :)

I'll be making some Oatmeal-Pecan Banana Muffins with some preserved bananas, so keep an eye out for them.