The Best Way to Freeze Bananas
There is nothing more dreamy than a frozen banana in a smoothie, and for bakers looking to try banana bread or muffins, it can be easier than having frozen bananas on hand. But the internet is full of bad advice on exactly how to freeze these lovely fruits.
Bad advice can be divided into two camps:
Method # 1: Freeze whole bananas in their skins.
Problems with this:
1. You cannot peel a frozen banana easily. In order to clean it, you need to either defrost it the old fashioned way (after a while); put in the microwave, which will add a second step to the process; or cut from the skin – a process that I find a little inconvenient.
2. There is nothing rougher than a thawed unpeeled banana. Thawing an unpeeled banana produces a slimy, gooey liquid that you need to figure out how to get rid of, which adds another step to the process. (I’m not actually Harold McGee, but I’m guessing this is because the peel, unlike the fruit itself, contains a lot of water.)
So this method stinks.
Method # 2: Peel, cut into slices, freeze on a baking sheet.
Instructions usually go something like this: Peel the bananas, cut them into slices, place the slices without touching them on the parchment-covered cookie sheets, and place the sheets in the freezer. Then, when they are frozen, put the pieces in the Ziploc or the dishes in the freezer. “
Problems with this:
1. There are many steps.
2. This will require a lot of baking trays and freezer space, especially if you plan on freezing a whole bunch of bananas.
3. If you freeze bananas for use in baked goods (not smoothies), the recipe usually requires several whole bananas, meaning you have to line up a bunch of slices that can be roughly the size of a whole. banana, which adds another notch. Okay, that’s a minor nitpick.
4. In my experience, unpeeled bananas stick to each other in the freezer and are very difficult to separate, which means that after having difficulty isolating each piece on a leaf before freezing, they may just solidify into a solid mass. … a block if you put it together in a Ziploc and you’re left with trying to remove the pieces with a knife or other sharp object, which is a terrible idea.
Solution
1. Peel a banana from the peel (if you do this with the “wrong” end, not the stem, you get much more than a clean peel, which carry with them more “threads” together with this unpleasant piece of brown at the end).
2. Wrap it individually in plastic wrap, wax paper, or aluminum foil.
3. Place wrapped fruit in a Ziploc or plastic storage container in the freezer.
4. When you’re ready for the smoothie, so are your bananas.
If necessary (let’s say your blender isn’t the strongest) you can easily cut the banana in half. As for baking, you still have to defrost the bananas, but you don’t have to mess with any nasty mucus.
Note. Some stores offer big discounts on ugly bananas that don’t sell for the best prices. Pick them up! These homemade suckers are ideal for freezing (just remember to get the peel out of the house as soon as possible – they are a prime target for fruit flies).