Banana flour is a powder traditionally made of green

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

. Historically, banana flour has been used in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

as a cheaper alternative to

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bread ...

. It is now often used as a gluten-free replacement for wheat flours or as a source of

resistant starch Resistant starch (RS) is starch, including its degradation products, that escapes from digestion in the small intestine of healthy individuals. Resistant starch occurs naturally in foods, but it can also be added as part of dried raw foods, or use ...

, which has been promoted by certain dieting trends such as paleo and primal diets and by some recent nutritional research. Banana flour, due to the use of green bananas, has a very mild banana flavor raw, and when cooked, it has an earthy, nonbanana flavor; it also has a texture reminiscent of lighter wheat flours and requires about 25% less volume, making it a good replacement for white and white whole-wheat flour.

Production methods

Banana flour is generally produced with

green banana Guineos (pronounced ) usually refers to an unripe banana. The term guineo is sometimes used in reference to its ripened counterpart: the yellow (ripened) banana. The word ''Guineo'' comes from Guinea, a country in West Africa, as it is one of the ...

s that are peeled, chopped, dried, and then ground. This process can be completed traditionally by hand, where the bananas are sun dried, dried in an oven, or a residential food dryer, and then either ground in a mortar and pestle or with a mechanical grinder. The green banana process requires 8–10 kg of raw green bananas to produce 1 kg of banana flour. In recent years, large scale commercial production has begun in Africa and South America using the same basic methodology. Chile has been developing an alternative method of banana flour production using ripe banana waste. Chilean researchers have developed a process that uses over-ripe banana peels to add

dietary fiber Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by the ...

to the ripe banana fruit, which does not have the resistant starch properties of green bananas. Banana powder is made from dried and ground fully ripened banana puree and thus does not have the fiber of banana peel flour content nor the resistant starch of green banana flour.

Uses

Historical use Traditionally, banana flour was produced as an alternative to high-priced wheat flour in various parts of Africa and Jamaica. As early as 1900, banana flour was sold in Central America under the brand-name Musarina and marketed as beneficial for those with stomach problems and pains.Wilson, David Scofield, and Angus K. Gillespie, eds. Rooted in America: Foodlore of Popular Fruits and Vegetables. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1999. Pages 28-29. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

considered plans to produce banana flour as a substitute for wheat and

rye flour Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

s. Gluten-free alternative Banana flour has been imported or produced by American and Australian firms, International Agriculture Group, and Natural Evolution. These flours are marketed as a gluten-free alternative to wheat-based flours for those suffering from

celiac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barl ...

and those who choose a

gluten-free diet A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The incl ...

. They are also marketed for clean-label texturizers and as a natural source of resistant starch. Because of the high starch content, banana flour has excellent cooking/baking characteristics that allow it to replace wheat and other flours. However, even in cooked products like pasta (banoodles), the addition of banana flour increased total resistant starch content in appreciable amounts. Resistant starch Banana flour (green variety) has gained the attention of nutritional researchers and dieters as an excellent and useful source of

. Resistant starch refers starch that resists digestion - it is not broken down in the small intestine, but reaches the large intestine, where it functions as a fermentable dietary fiber. Banana flour may have a high resistant starch content (>60%) or it may have a low resistant starch content (<10%), depending upon the drying procedures of the specific ingredient. Banana flour is often used raw, for example as an ingredient in smoothies or nutrition bars, because cooking may reduce the resistant starch content. Animal feed and glue manufacturing Banana flour is used as

animal feed Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input to ...

in various parts of the world. In particular, it is used as an ingredient in

milk replacer A milk substitute is any substance that resembles milk and can be used in the same ways as milk. Such substances may be variously known as non-dairy beverage, nut milk, grain milk, legume milk, mock milk and alternative milk. For adults, milk ...

s for calves. Dynasty Banana Flour Manufacturing and Trading in the Philippines and Taj Agro Products in India export banana flour worldwide for use in livestock feeds (where it acts as a coagulant) and for use in

glue Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...

production, mainly

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

glue.

Availability

Banana flour has traditionally been available in Africa and South America, both from traditional and commercial production. It has been introduced as a commercial ingredient around the world by companies such as International Agriculture Group (based in the United States) and Natural Evolution (based in Australia).

Environmental and economic benefits

Banana flour production has been offered as a solution to high rates of waste among banana crops by both researchers and officials of various countries. Many unripe green bananas are culled and thrown out as unsuitable for sale or export. These culled green bananas are still suitable for banana flour production, and if used for this purpose, would significantly reduce waste in banana production. Thus, banana producers will be able to secure greater returns from their crops, the environmental impact of those crops would be reduced, and world food production would be increased as a once-wasted foodstuff would now be used. Chilean officials have started production of an overripe banana flour made from overripe banana peels and the overripe banana fruit. This reduces waste by using bananas typically thrown out when unsold or accidentally over-ripened, which can occur to as much as 20% of bananas brought to market. In these ways, banana flour can reduce waste on both ends of banana crop production.

Production concerns

Banana production has long been associated with the exploitation of impoverished workers in third-world countries.Zuniga-Arias, Guillermo, and F. Sáenz Segura. "The impact of fair trade in banana production of Costa Rica." The impact of Fair Trade. The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers (2008): 99-116. Banana flour production is naturally and closely connected with these concerns, as some consumers worry about where the bananas going into their flour are sourced. However, many major banana producers have recently agreed to

fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...

business practices, which have been shown to increase worker welfare.

References