 I’m not just a huge banana fan – the only time I crave them is when my potassium gets low from drinking too much water. I know exactly when that’s happening. I’ll be standng in the checkout line at the grocery and I’ll see bananas displayed in the middle of the isle. I will think to myself, “I’ve gotta have those!!” And after my purchase, I then I lovingly cradle them in my arms like a baby, get into the car and start peeling those suckers, wolfing them down while I am driving. One of these days, I’ll have a wreck and the police officer will say, “You were on your cell phone, weren’t you?!!” But the police report will indicate, “Under the influence of bananas.” I like banana bread and banana muffins and banana/nut scones. I love Bananas Foster – hmmm – now there’s a recipe I need to put on here! – and I like to munch on my dehydrated bananas. So this past weekend, I spent most of the time dehydrating a BUNCH (pun intended!!) of bananas. I thought I’d share with you my way of doing that.  I found bananas on sale at 5 lbs for $1. Yep. Can you believe it?? So, I bought 15 lbs. I mean, that’s a whopping $3 so I HAD to buy them, right? And I used a large bottle of lemon juice.  First, I sliced the bananas into a bowl with 2 cups of bottled lemon juice. I always wind up adding a little more juice to nearly cover the bananas. I use a huge slotted spoon to toss the bananas around in the juice to make sure they all get covered. Allow to stand in the juice for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle 1/8 – 1/4 cup of sugar over the bananas and toss. It just depends on your taste. After drying, your bananas are going to be like sweet/sour banana candy. You can use Xylitol instead of sugar.  Using a large slotted spoon, scoop bananas out of the juice and allow to drain. Pour the banana slices onto dehydrator racks.  Arrange slices onto the trays so that none of them overlap. Dehydrate for 15 – 24 hours depending on how pliable you wish your slices. The longer you dehydrate, the less pliable. They will not be crispy, crispy like those in the store but the flavor is phenomenal!  Mr. Fix-It loves the crispy banana chips that can be bought at the store. So I decided to experiment beyond my usual way of doing things. I wasn’t impressed at all. According to all I read, the commercial banana chips are actually deep fried in coconut oil and then dipped into a sugar syrup to be dried. Sooooo, I tried it. I’m never one to shy away from a challenge!  I made a syrup of 2 cups of water to 1/2 cup of sugar that was brought to a boil and then cooled. When the bananas came out of the grease, they were drained, put back into a large bowl and the syrup was poured over the top of them. I then drained them with the large slotted spoon and placed them onto dehydrator trays as shown above and then dried. I’m thinking they must fry them at REALLY high heat and for longer, although I found the bananas could only be fried for 30 seconds before they started disintegrating. What a mess.   The lighter colored banana chips are the ones that were done with the lemon juice and simply dried. The golden colored ones are the ones that were fried and the dark ones used Fruit Fresh instead of lemon juice. I did a batch like that so you could tell the difference. The flavor of the dark ones is not very good either. The flavor of the fried ones is ok. Kind of reminds you of the flavor of Bananas Foster. But the best ones are the ones that were done in lemon juice. I have decided that tried and true is best and I’m sticking to my method! |
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Tags: coconut oil, dehydrating bananas, dehydrator, lemon juice
We were in synch!
I also filled my cart with bananas found on sale this weekend and dehydrated them. The whole house smells like yummy banana splits!
My method is NO additives, but in the slicing. I slice the bananas lengthwise in long fingers about 1/4 inch thick. This allows the inner core natural sugars to be exposed evenly on the slices when you’re cutting them. Use a thin straight bladed knife and cut the banana while holding it in your hand and passing the knife horizontally, gliding it toward you. The concentrated sugars from the inner banana is mechanically and naturally coating your slice if you do it this way, and the banana dries evenly and much much sweeter, without adding refined sugars.
I use perforated mesh liners on the trays in single layers, place the fingers so you maximize the tray space, process at 135 F in the dehydrator for 12 hours. They are now in a leathery bendable state. You can stop here if you like to eat them this way, or use them for muffins and breads.
But, I steel can them for long term storage.
I then, pull them off the liner and flip them all over, and back in the dehydrator they go at a lower setting of 115 F for a finishing cooling off period of 4 hours. they have now lost their glistening coating finish when you look at them.
Take them off the sheets and store in an airtight jar or even better, metal can your own with an added O2 oxygen absorber and seal immediately.
Doing your own will cost 1/4th of the price of a #10 can purchased from Thrive, or a similar processor, and will store for 7 to 10 years, with no nutritional loss, if you keep them at less than 70 degrees in a dry, non-humid pantry.
Bananas are our favorite fruit and our daily natural source of K+ and this household is not in the tropics and we failed miserably at growing our own banana trees even in a greenhouse.
Canning allows us to have those fruits we just have to eat available all the time, even when the fruit will no longer be obtainable.
Sounds yummy! I think I’ll go get some more and try that too. Never hurts to find out all kinds of ways to do something! I like the sugar with the lemon juice as something to much on because it isn’t much sugar and it gives it a sweet and sour banana flavor that satisfies my sweet tooth!
What great comments! Thanks for sharing MB and notutopia!
Glad to be of service!! 🙂
Mary Beth I am beginning to think I need to move to OK. I know you are just as dry and dusty as we are in TX, however, you are always getting the best deals at the grocery store. My small town grocery doesn’t know what the word sale is suppose to mean. lol
Yeah, we have some pretty awesome sales here, I must say, and now we have TWO organic grocery stores that have built in OKC – Whole Foods and Sunflower Foods. We may even get a Trader Joes!!