How to peel frozen bananas?

[siempresam]

So I have a friend who is considering the raw food diet too, and she just e-mailed me asking how to peel a frozen banana.

I have done this myself (freezing bananas without peeling first) when I was super lazy that day, and of course discovered that it was kind of fruitless (no pun intended, but there it is anyway!) as the result was a weird brown frozen banana sculpture.

Any suggestions on how to peel a frozen banana?

[Autumn]

The first time I was going to make a smoothie, I froze the banana mistakenly with the peel on. I just waited for it to thaw a bit and then peeled.

[Amethyst_Rain]

i usually just cut off the ends and then make a slit down the whole banana...then you can just peel it off in one big piece

[Pailani]

A friend of mine told me that she always buys old bananas on sale, then she stores them in the freezer to make smoothies. When I asked if she had trouble peeling frozen bananas, she seemed surprised that I would ask that, as if peeling frozen bananas was no big deal. But she didn't say specifically how she does it.

I've been waiting for warm weather to make frozen smoothies so I can try peeling frozen bananas. When I peeled then first before freezing, they turned brown.

[PixieGreen]

Pailani, try dunking or brushing your peeled bananas with lemon, lime or orange juice before freezing to keep them from browning.

Christa

[tracyinfo]

I try to take them out of the freezer about 5 minutes before using them. Then I just slice off both tips and make a slice down lengthwise, and it comes out easily.

If I am in a super rush, with a sharp knife, I cut the bananas into quarters or so, and then I just start peeling with a sharp paring knife. But, my fingers really freeze this way!

-Tracy

[siempresam]

Hmmm.. that is interesting about the bananas turning brown after freezing them without the peels. I don't think I have had that happen. If they are already pretty ripe, then I could see how they might not be so white anymore, but I don't think I have had any go brown on me in the freezer. Go figure...

The lemon juice idea would definitely help I think.

[Revvell]

I guess I never considered freezing them with the peel on. Even in the fridge they seem to darken somewhat and the peels go black. I peel mine before freezing. Saves me LOTS of work later ~ I guess.

Revvell

[rawpriestess]

I have only ONCE frozen bananas with the peel on, at which time I found black rocks in my freezer disguised as bananas.

I tried to peel them, only to find out this was an indeed impossible task, so let them thaw, although they turnind into slime.

I strongly suggest peeling first, then breaking in half, then freezing, this way they fit into your champion (for ice cream) or blender for smoothies easily.

[DennisMB]

I only did that once, my first time, never made that mistake again, lol. What a pain in the #$&%

[RawTruth]

This is what I always do and it works like a charm:

Peel them, then slice in thin slices on a flat surface covered in waxed or parchment paper (or right on a cutting board). Then, put this is the freezer. After 1/2 hour or so, the slices are frozen solid and can be scooped into a plastic freezer bag. Or, I just open the bag and slice the bananas right into the open top and then seal the bag. Then I kinda toss the bag in the air a couple of times - laying flat across my open hands -- so the slices are spread out and put this laying as flat as possible in my freezer. After they're solid, I squoosh the slices down to the bottom of the bag and squeeze out any extra air and twist tie the bag (even though it might be a zip lock) right above the pile of frozen banana slices so no extra air is on them.

Slicing thinly means very easy blending or processing.

Funny, I never heard of anyone freezing the whole banana with a peel on until last week when I went to visit my mom and wanted to surprise her with Butter Pecan Ice cream. I asked if she happened to have any frozen bananas before I was going to slice and freeze the ones I brought. She opened the freezer and showed me this black long rock-like things. I couldn't stop laughing. My mom is a born-organized, completely logical, spotless house, efficiency expert type of person ... and her having frozen with the peels on just flew in the face of all that -- cracked me up. She didn't take offense ... just helped me hack the ends of, split them lengthwise, then froze our fingers off prying them out of the skins!

[DotfromOz]

I've just peeled them, broken them into chunks and then popped the chunks into a Ziploc bag and then into the freezer. Mine came out really creamy-banana looking. But then, I have a near-zero degree freezer in my fridge, so maybe your freezer temp isn't as cold as that.

I make sure to use bananas with stems that are still greenish, although the bananas themselves are fully yellow. I'm wondering if that may make a difference.