How to Store Bananas in the Freezer

Don't toss your extra ripe bananas. Store them in the freezer for later use.

Freezing bananas preserves them in a perfectly ripened state. Frozen bananas make a perfect addition to fruit smoothies, banana ice cream and banana breads. Munching on frozen bananas can reduce pain in teething babies. For a special summer treat, dip whole bananas in chocolate, and freeze them. Whatever your plans for the frozen bananas, always use fully ripened fruit. Bananas stop ripening in the refrigerator or freezer.

Things You'll Need

• Cutting board, optional
• Knife, optional
• Wax paper
• Freezer bags

Instructions

1. Peel the bananas. While you can freeze bananas in the peel, in order to use the banana later, you have to let it thaw a bit before peeling. The resulting brown, mushy mess works well for banana breads, but it does not look very appetizing.

2. Lay the banana on the cutting board and chop off the ends. Then, slice the banana into bite-sized chunks. If you are going to make chocolate-covered bananas, simply chop off the ends.

3. Arrange the banana slices or whole bananas on a sheet of wax paper so that the bananas do not touch. Arranging the bananas properly ensures that you do not end up with one solid mass of frozen bananas. Freeze the bananas for a couple of hours until they are frozen solid.

4. Transfer the bananas to freezer bags, and return them to the freezer.

References

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Prolonging the Life of Bananas; Alice Henneman, RD
• "Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks: 5,000 Ingenious Kitchen Hints, Secrets, Shortcuts, and Solutions"; David Joachim et al.; 2001
• . Food Network.com; Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Bananas; Gale Gand