Originally published at: Have you ever eaten banana peels? | Boing Boing
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Yes, as a matter of fact I cooked some for the first time just yesterday. I was planning to ask today in the Food and Drink topic if anyone here had ever 
I had been looking at that very same recipe for banana peel bacon that Jennifer (the BB author) links to, but I didn’t have the smoked paprika. I wound up just chopping the peels and kind of stewing them in a sauce of tamari, tahini, garlic, ginger, and white pepper. Planning to use it over noodles/veggies.
I don’t know how the peels taste to other people, but to me they really taste like pears 
We send our food scraps to the city compost, but I knew that people do eat the banana peels, and had lately been thinking that I may as well try to use all of the banana. I would love to know if/how other people here use them!
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Sure. Just watch me.
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So is it or is it not a better idea than smoking them? 
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I am curious to know what mechanism breaks down or eliminates the bitter flavor? Is it application of heat, or is it added ingredients, or both? Do any of our in-house scientists care to weigh in?
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Wait, you guys peel the bananas before you eat them?
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While I was looking at recipes, I read one (or more?) for banana peel bacon that said that the peel sweetens as it ripens, just like the inside does. They recommended to wait for the banana to get very ripe, with brown spots, to make the “bacon”.
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The bitter components, in my brief skimming, comes from tannins, a general category of chemicals that make plants bitter. Or, sometimes, delicious. Boiling, maybe soaking, likely remove it, letting them ripen as zfirphdn notes helps. “The cure for pollution is dilution” so sticking it in a creamy sweet smoothie also masks the tannins.
Deeper dive in what’s in the peels:
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I half-remember a great film/tv scene about this, but can’t remember the show. This is gonna drive me crazy until it comes to me.
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I remain unconvinced.
Could it be K-Pax, where Prot eats a banana with the skin on?
“Your produce alone has been worth the trip.”
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My wife spins and weaves as well. She recently discovered that you can make twine from banana skins. She was a little disappointed to learn how much banana peel was needed to make any quantity of twine. I suppose I’ll have to tell her about this. We were not exactly impressed with the jackfruit “pulled pork” but then here in the UK the jackfruit available is probably not the best.
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Just look at taste them.
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IIRC the lyrics are: “Electrical banana / going to be a sudden craze / Electrical banana / bound to be the very next phase…”
Smoking dried peels is a waste of effort. Blame that bloody Brit. Feh.
My willingness to try this depends on whether they’re delicious in the same way that bananas are “delicious”.
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Don’t banana peels contain the residual pesticides? I’m sure people could buy the organic ones…but…
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