Certified packaged food upcycling, root-to-stem cooking, home composting – all making food more sustainableBanana peels, one of the food wastes, were recently repurposed into a new kind of flour. In addition to being a potential way to “recycle” common food waste, this new peel-based flour could help improve many nutritional benefits by infusing items like cookies with healthy essentials. It may bring benefits.
Researchers show you how to turn trash and compostable materials into useful and healthy baking ingredients.
Banana peels turn into nutritious flour
The fibrous skin of a banana may look inedible at first glance, but it is actually rich in nutrients. According to researchthe skin alone contains potassium, fiber, amino acids and polyunsaturated fats.
But researchers are trying to do just that: turn banana peels into a convenient and nutritious food that everyone can use. ACS Food Science & Technology It suggests that incorporating these skins into baked goods instead of traditional flour may have beneficial effects.
For this report, scientists took banana peels, blanched them, dried them and ground them into a fine powder. They mixed the flour with ingredients such as butter, skimmed milk powder, powdered sugar, and wheat flour. to test its flavor profile, texture, and nutritional value.
What was the biggest difference between conventional flour and this peel-based flour? It wasn’t the taste, it was the nutritional aspect of the treat.
Cookies made with banana peel flour were more nutritious. They were lower in fat and protein and higher in fiber, magnesium and potassium. It also contained higher amounts of phenols and more antioxidant activity compared to cookies.
A Little Banana Peel Makes A Difference
In test baking, researchers tried varying amounts of banana peel flour.The cookies consisted of 0-15% flour. Using 15% banana peel flour resulted in cookies with more fiber and a firmer, browner color. However, with only 7.5% banana peel flour, the texture and taste were quite similar to “regular” sugar cookies, yet yielded a more nutritious final product.
As a result, the researchers suggested that even a small amount of banana peel flour in baked goods could make a difference in the nutritional value of commercial cookies.
where to find banana peel powder
If you’re ready to start baking with banana peel flour at home, unfortunately it’s not readily available just yet. That’s why I still can’t find banana peel powder at my local grocery store.
