Bananas make great tropical smoothies and yogurt blends, but they have many other great uses as well. Here a just a few surprising uses for bananas.
Health and Beauty Treatments Banana peels are jam-packed with nutrition. Bananas are a great way to add vitamins to your breakfast instead of tossing out the peel try a few of these beauty tips.
- Make a wart treatment by cutting a small piece of banana peel and place it over the wart with a band-aid. This also works to suck splitters back out of the skin.
- Whiten your teeth by cutting a small piece of banana peel and rub in across your teeth daily.
- Relive bug bites by rubbing a small piece of banana skin over the affected area. This will reduce the redness and itchy feeling.
- Try blending banana skins and coconut milk together to form a smoothe face mask. This will can help with acne.
- Place a piece of banana peel under your eyes to rejuvenate tired eyes.
- Use banana peels like a cool compress for sunburns. Place the banana peels on the affected area and let it work its magic.
Cooking
- Wrapping meat in a large banana leaf while it is cooking is a common practice in some cultures. Have you ever been to a luau on the beach? They typically wrap a pig in leaves and bury it directly in the hot sand to cook. The leaves make the meat more tender. Try adding a banana peel to the pan of your next roast.
- Banana peels are totally safe to eat. They are densely packed with vitamins. Try baking a whole banana in the peel. Cut it in half and add some cinnamon and chocolate. Or slice some banana peels and add them to a stir-fry. Eating the banana skin will double the nutritional value of the banana.
Gardening
- Aphids can destroy a perfectly good garden. Try burying a few banana peels 2 inches deep around the base of the plants. This will create a barrier and protect your plants from problem insects.
- Dry banana peels and then grind them up. You can spread this over your new seedling as a natural fertilizer. Banana peels are packed with potassium, an important nutrient for your garden.
- Don't throw banana peels in the garbage. Instead, add banana scraps to your compost pile.
- Leave out over ripped bananas for local birds and butterflies. The fruit will attract local wildlife to your backyard. Make sure you place the fruit up high, it could attract bees and no one wants to get stung. Don't leave it out overnight as this could bring unwanted visitors like raccoons.
Dog Treats Dogs love bananas. Here is a quick and easy recipe for homemade dog treats your pups will love.
- Smash the bananas
- Add 1 egg
- Add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
- Add 1 1/2 cups of flour
- Roll out the dough flat
- Cut out using fun shapes
- Bake at 350*F on a foil-lined cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes
