Banana peel

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A dessert banana with peel partly removed (partially "peeled"). The peel is the yellow outer "skin".
Discarded banana peels

A banana peel, also called banana skin in British English, is the outer covering of the banana fruit.

Bananas are a popular fruit consumed worldwide with a yearly production of over 145 million tonnes in 2011. Once the peel is removed, the fruit can be eaten raw or cooked and the peel is generally discarded. Because of this removal of the banana peel, a significant amount of organic waste is generated.[1][2]

Banana peels are sometimes used as feedstock for cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, rabbits, fish and several other species, typically on small farms in regions where bananas are grown.[3] There are some concerns over the impact of tannins contained in the peels on animals that consume them.[4][5]

The nutritional value of banana peel depends on the stage of maturity and the cultivar; for example plantain peels contain less fibre than dessert banana peels, and lignin content increases with ripening (from 7 to 15% dry matter). On average, banana peels contain 6-9% dry matter of protein and 20-30% fibre (measured as NDF). Green plantain peels contain 40% starch that is transformed into sugars after ripening. Green banana peels contain much less starch (about 15%) when green than plantain peels, while ripe banana peels contain up to 30% free sugars.[4]

Banana peels are also used for water purification,[6] to produce ethanol,[7] cellulase,[8] laccase,[9] as fertilizer[10] and in composting.[11]

Banana peel is also part of the classic physical comedy slapstick visual gag, the "slipping on a banana peel".[12][13] This gag was already seen as classic in 1920s America.[14] It can be traced to the late 19th century, when banana peel waste was considered a public hazard in a number of American towns.[15][16] Although banana peel-slipping jokes date to at least 1854, they became much more popular, beginning in the late-1860s, when the large-scale importation of bananas made them more readily available.[17][unreliable source?] Before banana peel jokes came into vogue, orange peels, and sometimes peach skins, or fruit peels/peelings/or skins, generally, were funny, as well as dangerous.[17][unreliable source?]

The coefficient of friction of banana peel on a linoleum surface was measured at just 0.07, about half that of lubricated metal on metal. Researchers attribute this to the crushing of the natural polysaccharide follicular gel, releasing a homogenous sol.[18] This unsurprising finding was awarded the 2014 Ig Nobel Prize for physics.[19]

See also

  • Bananadine, a fictional psychoactive substance of banana peels

References

  1. ↑ Derived from: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The data for bananas and plantains for 2011 were combined as the two are distinguished by some countries but combined under "bananas" by others.
  2. ↑ G.M. Babatunde: Availability of banana and plantain products for animal feeding. In: D. Machin, S. Nyvold: Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in animal feeding. Proceedings of the FAO Expert Consultation held in CIAT, Cali, Colombia FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PAPER 95, FAO, Rome, 1992.
  3. ↑ Banana peel entry on feedpedia.org
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Happi Emaga, T. ; Bindelle, J. ; Agneesens, R. ; Buldgen, A. ; Wathelet, B. ; Paquot, M., 2011. Ripening influences banana and plantain peels composition and energy content. Trop. Anim. Health Prod., 43 (1): 171-177
  5. ↑ Onwuka, C. F. I. ; Adetiloye, P. O. ; Afolami, C. A., 1997. Use of household wastes and crop residues in small ruminant feeding in Nigeria. Small Rumin. Res., 24: 233-237
  6. ↑ A. Chaparadza, JM Hossenlopp: adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics of atrazine removal using a banana peel based sorbent. Water Science Technology 65 (5), 2012, pp. 940-947
  7. ↑ HS Oberoi, PV Vadlani, L. Saida, S. Bansal, JD Hughes: ethanol production from banana peels using Statistically optimized simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process. Waste Management 31 (7), 2011, pp. 1576-1584
  8. ↑ Hai-Yan Sun, Li Juanhua, Pingjuan Zhao, Ming Peng: Banana peel. A novel substrates for cellulase production under solid-state fermentation African Journal of Biotechnology 10 (77), 2011, pp. 1788
  9. ↑ V. Vivekanand, P. Dwivedi, N. Pareek, RP Singh: Banana peel: a potential substrates for laccase production by Aspergillus fumigatus VkJ2.4.5 in solid-state fermentation. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 165 (1), 2011, pp. 204-20
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ F. Kalemelawa, E. Nishihara, T. Endo, Z. Ahmad, R. Yeasmin, MM Tenywa, S. Yamamoto: An evaluation of aerobic and anaerobic composting of banana peels treated with different inoculum for soil nutrient replenishment. , Bioresource Technology 126, 2012 pp. 375-82
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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