Many breads and desserts—whether they’re commercially manufactured or homemade—are created using all-purpose flour. The problem with this is that while it makes food items fluffy and tasty, it’s not exactly the healthiest ingredient for the job. Some bread lovers would use bread machine flour, which is a healthier alternative. Some bread lovers would use bread machine flour, which is a healthier alternative.
Fortunately, bakers and cooking enthusiasts now have more flour options to choose from. One of which is green banana flour, which is an ingredient that is quickly becoming a regular mainstay in a lot of healthy kitchens.
Banana Flour’s Nutritional Value
Banana flour is typically made from green, unripe bananas. These bananas are peeled, washed, sliced, dried, and then ground to create a flour that can serve as a healthy component of anything you wish to make, from cakes, breads, brownies, cookies, smoothies, and even to soups. After all, it contains:
- Potassium
- Phosphorus
- Magnesium
- Fiber
- Zinc
- Manganese
- Vitamin E
However, the benefits of green banana flour go beyond its nutritional content. As an ingredient that’s filled with many essential nutrients, it helps in keeping consumers healthy, all while maintaining the food’s desirable flavors.
How Does Banana Flour Change Your Recipes For The Better?
Still wondering whether it’s worth making the switch to banana flour? Listed below are six reasons why your current recipes will significantly change for the better when you choose to use it:
High Fiber Content
Bananas are among the fruits that have high dietary fiber, and banana flour is no exception. Banana flour also contains prebiotic fiber, which could help a lot in maintaining good digestion and colon health.
Prebiotics is extremely beneficial for gut health because it serves as a fertilizer to the good bacteria that are currently living in your gut. This will help the bacteria grow and work more efficiently. You’ll then have an easier time digesting your food, and your bowel cycles will greatly improve.
Improved Taste And Overall Acceptability
Since the taste of banana is very subtle, it can readily be substituted for regular flour if you’re planning to concoct something in your kitchen. Most of the time, it won’t even affect the taste of your usual recipes.
If it does manage to affect the taste, it’s usually for the better since the flavor isn’t overpowering at all. The nutty taste actually helps accentuate the taste of the food as a whole, making it a more favorable option compared to other sugar-saturated recipes.
In fact, one study shows that using banana flour as part of a biscuit’s recipe can improve its taste, crunchiness, feel, and overall acceptability. Hence, if you’re looking for ways to spice up your regular kitchen projects, banana flour might be what you need to make them even better.
Blood Sugar Maintenance
Banana flour is usually made from green bananas, although, rarely, some are also made from ripe or yellow bananas. The wonder of green banana flour is that unripe bananas have a significantly lower sugar content than the ripe ones.
If you’re trying to manage your sugar consumption, switching to banana flour is the way to go. Additionally, banana flour contains resistant starch. What does this entail?
To illustrate, white bread and pasta are two food items that are high in starch. These forms of starch are typically digested rapidly, so they quickly get absorbed into your bloodstream as glucose. Hence, this can quickly cause a spike in your insulin levels.
Meanwhile, banana flour’s resistant starch slows down the release and absorption of its nutrients. As a result, you’ll no longer have that immediate insulin response that you usually get from starchy and sugary food.
This means that you’ll no longer have a sugar crash that typically leads to those unwanted midday slumps. Your blood sugar levels will exactly be at the right level for your body’s needs.
- Weight Loss Enabler
Aside from being a healthier ingredient overall, banana flour is also a helpful tool for those who are trying to lose weight. That’s because the fiber content and the resistant starch help keep your appetite in check, as they keep you feeling fuller for a longer time.
Hence, upon eating something that contains banana flour, it’s usually enough to keep you from munching on more stuff on the kitchen table. The less calories you consume, the more weight you’ll be able to lose in the long run. Overall, it’s a great solution for keeping satiety levels manageable.
Gluten-free And Nut-free
Some people are unable to eat certain desserts because they’re allergic to gluten and nuts. Fortunately, they no longer have to miss out on those yummy delicacies with the help of banana flour. Besides being a health-friendly ingredient, it also doesn’t eliminate the enjoyment that one can get from food, unlike many “sinless” versions of desserts that are usually bland.
Another important consideration is that banana flour is also dairy-free, soy-free, and grain-free. So, if you’re on a paleo diet or you’re living a vegan lifestyle, banana flour is a totally acceptable ingredient that you can add to your cupboard.
Less Flour, More Recipes!
The high amounts of resistant starch in banana flour means that you can actually get away with using less of it in your next outputs. If you’re typically using one cup of all-purpose flour for a particular recipe, with banana flour, you can use 30% less.
Thus, you’ll be able to make more of your favorite snacks and desserts if you switch to banana flour. You’ll also become a lot healthier because of the nutritional benefits that it provides.
Using Banana Flour Can Make Your Recipes A Lot Healthier
The mild, earthy taste of banana flour tastes similarly to wheat flour. Hence, it’s one of the best flour substitutes if you’re planning to create gluten-free and high-fiber recipes. Instead of having to avoid certain food items, it may now be possible for you to enjoy their full taste if banana flour had been used to create them.
In many cases, people can’t have desserts because of their high sugar content plus other unhealthy ingredients they contain. However, with banana flour in the mix in exchange for the usual flour, you can now stop feeling guilty about having your cake and eating it, too.
