Do You Eat the Bruised Parts of Bananas?
It's a topic that had us thinking at Serious Eats headquarters today. Our reactions:
- Ed: "This question has always vexed me: Am I supposed to, and is it even OK to eat the bruised, discolored parts of the banana? I usually cut them out, as I did this morning. But occasionally I just power through the banana, brown areas included. I do draw the line at blackened banana. If it's black all the way through it's definitely headed for the trash."
- Alaina: "I don't eat the bruises. I cut around them. Maybe I should invest in one of those banana carriers?"
- Adam: "If it's just a bit of a mild brown spot, not much bigger than a pill, I'll eat it. Who wants to bother grabbing a knife to cut it out? But if it's narsty black, then no. Who would?"
- Robyn: "Assuming it's just some spotting and hasn't infected 50%+ of the banana, I eat the bruised bits."
- Tressa: "I put bruised bananas in the freezer—that is where bruised bananas go to die. But they are resurrected in the form of smoothies."
- Erin: "I eat them. There I said it. In fact, I may even go as far as saying I seek them out."
So, where do you stand on the issue?
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42 Comments:
I don't do bananas period. It's the only food that I can't stand - just the smell of one being opened near by makes me feel nauseous.
Plantains, on the other hand, don't bother me, and those I definitely eat at every stage - green, yellow, and black. It comes with the territory when you've got a Colombian wife.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 7:36PM on 10/08/09
I don't eat bananas either, but when I did I would never have considered eating any part of a banana that was bruised, that thing goes straight in the trash, life is too short to eat defective fruit. You might as well get your food out of a dumpster.
redfish at 7:45PM on 10/08/09
I loathe pure yellow bananas. They make people's breath smell bad. Bananas that start to spot and brown -- they are really sweet. Love them.
louanne at 8:09PM on 10/08/09
psssh, any banana is a good banana. my grandparents would let their bananas sit out, because they knew my mother and i had no problems eating the black ones. i think i need to start a new group defending the rights of spotted bananas.
winternutt at 8:25PM on 10/08/09
If the fruit itself has light brown spots, I cut them out....It the skin has many brown spots, it becomes banana bread...
Italiancupcake at 8:27PM on 10/08/09
I like my bananas to be on the unripe side. If there's a bruised spot I throw out that chunk but if it's mushy all over I just freeze it for smooties.
gingercookiewithlime at 8:54PM on 10/08/09
If a banana is even remotely green-ish, I'm nowhere near it. I love bananas with mostly brown peels. Bruised flesh means banana pancakes, my Tuesday-morning tradition!
wheatfoot at 9:18PM on 10/08/09
Skeeve the brown spots. Old dog used to eat them for me...new dog does not.
PoorOldMama at 9:24PM on 10/08/09
I adore over-ripe bananas! I'll eat them bruises and all -- not a big fan of the green ones. If you can't handle the bruised bananas, and don't feel like using them in bread or muffins, they are also good frozen and used in smoothies.
leighana at 9:35PM on 10/08/09
I totally agree with Italiancupcake
cacao at 9:36PM on 10/08/09
a la Tressa
great minds think alike, fools seldom differ!
leighana at 9:36PM on 10/08/09
Bruised, soft bananas are perfect for banana bread. The more bruised and nasty-looking, the better. Peel them, freeze them, and then defrost into moist mush to make the richest-tasting banana bread ever.
As for eating them out of hand, blech.
sarahbeam at 9:55PM on 10/08/09
I feel it is sadly unsurprising that so many people on this site would go out of their way to cut dark spots from a banana. I was like that at 12.
anambitiouscook at 10:10PM on 10/08/09
It's usually in the morning when I eat a banana, so I use a spoon (for eating oatmeal/granola) to cut bruised parts out, then smear it on a peel.
hmw0029 at 10:12PM on 10/08/09
It depends on how large the brown spot is.
Is it deep? Is it larger than my pinkie finger? When I cut the banana into slices, is it more than half-way brown?
I like to bake with over-ripe bananas, such as banana bread, muffins, cake and pancakes. I'll eat it if the brown spot is the size of my finger or less. No more, because I don't like the texture.But I believe it would be okay to eat. I
f I'd bake with it, why shouldn't I eat it?
countchocula at 10:35PM on 10/08/09
I like under-ripe bananas. As soon as they are properly ripe they make me feel sick. As for bruises, I bite them off and spit them out.
lexophile at 10:54PM on 10/08/09
Just because a banana has brown spots on the skin doesn't necessarily mean it's bruised inside.
That being said, I cannot stand a banana that has any green, it has to have brown spots emerging on the skin for me to even consider it ripe enough to eat. That one in the pic above looks about perfect.
As for bruised banana flesh, I'm with countchocula - as long as the bruise isn't too big, I'll eat it. If it's a bite with more bruise than non-bruised flesh, I'll break that piece off and move on to yummier parts.
violetcassis at 11:25PM on 10/08/09
no. yuck.
cybercita at 11:32PM on 10/08/09
I don't care if it's bruised. It's already dead. Just eat it, it won't kill you.
Tia Kim at 12:10AM on 10/09/09
Yes, I will eat a lightly bruised banana. I love bananas in general, so as long as the taste isn't affected, I will eat it. Bruising is just a matter of a change in texture, and is not indicative of rot.
A bruised fruit is just when the cells of the fruit burst open, and the structure of the bruised area is essentially "deflated". Why it turns darker than the rest of the banana is because the contents of the cells are not contained, and there are enzymes that start to break down the fruit. Again, this is not rotting.
So if you don't like to eat bruised bananas, please don't throw them away. That is very wasteful and I despise wasting food. Just toss it in a smoothie, make banana bread if the bananas are very ripe, mash it up and throw it in pancake,muffin, bread batter. It will taste the same as using an unbruised banana.
jo_wang at 12:17AM on 10/09/09
Bananas aren't ripe until they are brown. The brown banana is the sweet banana. When I buy bananas I put them aside until they turn brown. Yellow bananas are bland and blah.
Harvey
fishman69 at 12:17AM on 10/09/09
Of course! I mostly use bananas in cereal/oatmeal so bruising isn't as obvious as out of hand eating. If it's peel and eat...I prefer not green but not overripe. Lots of bruising/browning...ditto above...banana bread, pancakes, smoothies, muffins, banana daiquiris...yum!
Please buy organic bananas...and fair trade also if possible! Not to be a groove killer but the majority of bananas are picked using child labor (NY Times did a great article about this a number of years ago) so at least have the kids not sprayed with toxins (that we've banned in the USA and they're using) while they're picking and packing our bananas! It's the least we can do and a first step in improving the lives of the young workers. More people wanting organic bananas, more organic production, less kids exposed to toxins.
organicgal at 6:03AM on 10/09/09
A scary amount of people seem to enjoy under-ripe bananas. Shame.
Brown spots = ripe = delicious.
Marxy at 6:17AM on 10/09/09
The more brown (naturally occurring, not bruising) means the more sugar in the banana. With a banana that is still green the starch to sugar ratio is 20 : 1, while a banana that is yellow and brown has a starch to sugar ratio of 1 : 20....so, the less green and more brown means a sweeter treat! I would guess that the 'bruised' parts of a banana are areas that have had their ripening process sped up (so also a sweeter taste (?), albeit with a mushier texture). The banana in the pic at the top is definitely perfect for me.
As for the organic stuff...bananas are one of the few fruits you can get away with not buying organically. Because of their thick outer skin, whatever chemical they might be sprayed with doesn't penetrate through to the fruit. Doesn't sound good about the child labor issues though (do you have a link to that article organicgal?), something to look into for sure. It is always a good thing to get fair trade whenever you can, I am just saying in terms of nutrition/chemicals, in this specific situation, organic is no better than conventional. You want to get disgusted, look into what is sprayed onto conventional strawberries, now there is a fruit to only buy organic!
dwillm at 7:06AM on 10/09/09
Of course I eat the bruised parts of bananas. It's the sweetest part and I'm not put off by the color or compromised texture. They are good for so many things once they've "gone slightly by." Don't be a banana snob!
therealchiffonade at 7:58AM on 10/09/09
I eat the brown spots if they aren't huge. I think a banana really comes into its sweetness when the peel has a few brown spots on it. A perfectly yellow banana has an odd texture to me and coats my mouth and teeth with a strange filmy substance -- whereas a nice, ripe, banana (one with a brown spot or two on the peel) doesn't do that.
And I, like so many others, never throw away an over-ripe banana...I put those into bananas foster or banana pancakes or banana bread.
juliebugsmama at 9:11AM on 10/09/09
Since the only way I eat bananas is in banana bread, I'm all for the bruised spots! The more the better!
Lyra Ngalia at 9:11AM on 10/09/09
Eat it - often times it tastes a bit sweeter than the rest of the banana. Of course, I also eat everything but the stem when it comes to apples, including the core and seeds, so I may not be a good role model in this regard.
Rhetor at 9:52AM on 10/09/09
I have found that the outside doesn't necessarily mean the inside will look the same. And yes, I eat the entire banana, sans peel. The ones that are mushy become banana bread, but they are eaten.
queenbleu at 9:59AM on 10/09/09
Bruised bananas get frozen for breakfast smoothies later in the week.
Chef Todd Mohr
ChefToddMohr at 10:01AM on 10/09/09
Overripe bananas are frozen and then given to our dog as treats.
LittletonMike at 10:43AM on 10/09/09
I used to get super grossed out by bruised bananas but lately I've been a lot more liberal with my overripe banana consumption.
Chew on That at 1:06PM on 10/09/09
Absolutely. With so much starvation in the world, I would have a very heavy conscience if I decided to chuck a bit of fruit because it doesn't look perfect...as long as it's not rotten or off (if it's a banana that has been forgotten for ages and turned completely black), I will definetely find some edible purpose for it.
HappyMuncher at 1:20PM on 10/09/09
My mother always used to use the brown bananas to make flaxseed and chocolate chip banana muffins!!!
raw over-ripe though?
no thanks.
im not down with the flavour profile.
Im not wasteful: I buy my bananners as I need them :) (dont worry happymuncher!!! I agree with your theory)
hungrychristel at 2:59PM on 10/09/09
@ Marxy - I'm with you.
tatianak at 3:38PM on 10/09/09
I love the bruises! They're sweeter than the rest of the banana. I've been eating them for years with no negative effects, so I'll go ahead and say they're safe.
kalirugo at 8:50AM on 10/10/09
I can't bring myself to eat the bruises - have to cut them out! They're probably fine to eat, but the way they look... just can't do it. I trim off as little as possible, though - hate to waste any of it!
PinkCupcake at 4:52AM on 10/12/09
Brown spots are slimy and disgusting to eat straight up! However, I wait until they are ultra-soft, brown and slimy to freeze. These guys make the best banana bread and smoothies. For eating out of hand, for me, they have to be all yellow-even one freckle is too sweet and soft.
spatula2 at 4:50PM on 10/12/09
wow, i had no idea some people actually cut out bruised spots of bananas lol.. for me it's always been a total non-issue, i don't even think about it, i just eat the banana
now if it's to the point where the whole thing is brown and starting to get gooey, that's when it's time for the freezer for smoothies, or, if it's too far gone, just time to compost it
still can't believe some people cut bruised chunks from bananas lol
Control at 8:48PM on 10/12/09
Once it starts turning brown and gettting spotty it goes to bread. I really don't think I could eat the overripe bits otherwise.
HawtTortillaSoup at 10:27PM on 10/12/09
I'm so glad there are people in this world that care about this kind of stuff. Thank you for being alive fellow Serious Eaters.
As for bananas? I can wait until they're between dalmation and black lab. The black labs get put in banana bread.
*slurp*!
krr07a at 11:39AM on 10/13/09
Who gives a shit?! Just put in your fucking mouths!
Idiots!
Andre S at 2:28PM on 10/15/09