Prolonging the Life of Bananas

Would you like to keep bananas from turning brown so fast once you bring them home from the store?

Keep bananas a couple of days longer by storing them in the refrigerator after they've reached the desired degree of ripeness stored at room temperature. The outside will turn brown, but they will still be light-colored on the inside as shown in the photo below:

Another option is to buy bananas in varying degrees of ripeness so they don't all ripen at the same time.

Frozen banana slices work well in all types of smoothies and add extra thickness to the smoothie. One of the easiest ways to freeze banana slices is to:

• Gently rub bananas under cool running water and peel.
• Cut bananas into about ½ inches slices.
• Lay the slices in a single layer on a parchment- or plastic wrap-lined baking sheet (make sure the baking sheet fits in your freezer first!)
• Freeze for a couple of hours until the bananas are frozen solid. They will not darken during this time.
• Remove from baking sheet and place in freezer bags. Return to freezer.