The Easiest Way To Peel A Frozen Banana

Perched on top of your microwave, sits a very sorry sight — a gathering of rather pathetic-looking bananas that bear the appearance of neglect. Spotty and more than just a tad soft, it's a shame to throw them out. They'd be perfect in a smoothie or your famous instant pot banana bread, but who has time to whip up either of those? If only there was a way to preserve them in this exact state for future use. Hmm.

You could freeze them and stop their disintegration in its tracks. In order to freeze your treasured yellow fruit, Good Housekeeping recommends peeling it, placing it in a freezer bag, making sure the air is all out, and throwing it in the freezer. "Throwing," perhaps, might be the wrong word. How about sitting it gently, instead? You can also cut them into half-inch thick rounds and freeze them on something flat. Once they're officially frozen, plop them into a freezer bag and put them back in the freezer. All Recipes notes that mashed bananas can be measured out, placed into freezer bags, and frozen flat. It's recommended that you label the bag with the cup measurement for future baking projects. 

Phew. Thanks to freezing, you have managed to rescue your rather forlorn banana bunch. But now you're faced with a new conundrum. You froze them with the peel still on. How can you peel a frozen banana? 

If you've forgotten to remove the peels from your bananas before freezing them, you may be tempted to toss the whole frozen clump in the trash. Don't. There is a way to salvage this key ingredient for future loaves of chocolate chip banana bread. 

MasterClass begins by recommending that you thaw your frozen banana by sitting it on the counter for roughly five minutes. If you're feeling a tad impatient, you could also opt to microwave in 30-second intervals until it's thawed. If you can't be bothered thoroughly defrosting the banana, LIVESTRONG suggests cutting off the banana's ends and slicing along the peel from top to bottom. This should provide you with a nice start for removing the skin. Or, of course, if you are able, you can simply peel it like you would any non-frozen banana. 

While making smoothies and assorted banana-themed desserts is much easier if you don't freeze the skins and all, there are easy ways to rectify this mistake. And the important thing is that your sad little bananas won't go to waste.