Bananas about bananas

In Inside Time’s monthly recipe column, a prison nutritionist provides ideas for creating your own tasty and wholesome dishes

Bananas receive bad press compared to other fruit. They are often considered as being packed full of sugar and carbs. Still, they are one of the fruits easily accessible in prison – frequently available on menus and canteen lists.

Actually, there’s a lot of positive things to be said about bananas. Eating one or two a day can be part of a balanced diet with no adverse effects. Bananas are a source of potassium and magnesium, so support blood pressure and cardiovascular health. A banana contains one third of your daily vitamin B6 requirement, important for immunity and brain health.

Even banana peel can be good for you. Scientists, for example, have increased the nutritional value of baked products by adding dried, ground banana peel to replace some of the flour. A popular vegan hack is to use scraped shredded banana skin to replicate the meat-like texture in meat-free pulled pork recipes, cooking it up with diced onions, pepper and spices.

Here’s another useful tip – if you make smoothies and want to have the full benefit of the flavanols found in berries, which support brain and heart health, leave bananas out. Researchers found that bananas in smoothies reduce the absorption of flavanols by 84% so it’s better to eat your banana at another meal.

People with diabetes do need to be aware of the carbohydrates in ripe bananas, although the fibre content helps slow sugar absorption in the gut. Greener bananas have less sugar and more resistant starch, which does not raise blood sugar levels in the same way as sugar and other carbs. Also, if you’re tyramine-sensitive, be aware that ripe bananas can contain high levels of tyramine and could trigger migraine headaches.

Banana & Oat Breakfast Cookies 

Makes 2 large cookies

You will need an air fryer or standard oven for these tasty grab-and-go cookies. They have no added sugar and are an ideal way to use up bruised, unappealing bananas.

You’ll need:

• 1 ripe banana (or unripe if you wish)

• A large handful of oats (about 40g or 1 breakfast pack)

• ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

• A small handful of dried fruit (about 40g)

• A small handful of chopped unsalted nuts (about 25g) 

How to make it:

1. Mash the banana in a bowl.

2. Stir in oats, cinnamon, fruit and nuts to form a dough.

3. Scoop into 2 large cookie shapes on a piece of baking paper in the bottom of the air fryer. Flatten slightly.

4. Air fry at 170°C for 10 minutes. Turn the cookies over and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes (or bake in a standard oven at 170°C for 15 minutes, no turning.)

5. Let cool for 5 mins — they firm up more as they cool.

Helen Sandwell is the Inside & Out project lead at Food Matters, which produces the Her Wellbeing and His Wellbeing newsletters. Both are available digitally via Launchpads, Coracle devices and on Virtual Campus.