Product Code Database
Banana flour is a powder traditionally made of green bananas. Historically, banana flour has been used in Africa and Jamaica as a cheaper alternative to wheat flour. It is now often used as a gluten-free replacement for wheat flours or as a source of resistant starch, which has been promoted by certain dieting trends such as paleo and primal diets and by some recent nutritional research. Banana flour, due to the use of green bananas, has a very mild banana flavor when raw, and when cooked, it has an earthy, nonbanana flavor; it also has a texture reminiscent of lighter wheat flours and requires about 25% less volume, making it a good replacement for white and white whole-wheat flour.
Chile has been developing an alternative method of banana flour production using ripe banana waste. Chilean researchers have developed a process that uses over-ripe banana peels to add dietary fiber to the ripe banana fruit, which does not have the resistant starch properties of green bananas. Banana powder is made from dried and ground fully ripened banana puree and thus does not have the fiber of banana peel flour content nor the resistant starch of green banana flour.Sinha, Nirmal. Handbook of Food Products Manufacturing, 2 Volume Set. John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Page 873.
Traditionally, banana flour was produced as an alternative to high-priced wheat flour in various parts of Africa and Jamaica. As early as 1900, banana flour was sold in Central America under the brand-name Musarina and marketed as beneficial for those with stomach problems and pains.Wilson, David Scofield, and Angus K. Gillespie, eds. Rooted in America: Foodlore of Popular Fruits and Vegetables. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1999. Pages 28-29. During World War I, the U.S. Department of Agriculture considered plans to produce banana flour as a substitute for wheat and .
Gluten-free alternative
Banana flour has been imported or produced by American and Australian firms, International Agriculture Group, and Natural Evolution. These flours are marketed as a gluten-free alternative to wheat-based flours for those suffering from celiac disease and those who choose a gluten-free diet. They are also marketed for Clean label Texturizing and as a natural source of resistant starch. Because of the high starch content, banana flour has excellent cooking/baking characteristics that allow it to replace wheat and other flours. However, even in cooked products like pasta (banoodles), the addition of banana flour increased total resistant starch content in appreciable amounts.
Resistant starch
Banana flour (green variety) has gained the attention of nutritional researchers and dieters as an excellent and useful source of resistant starch. Resistant starch refers starch that resists digestion - it is not broken down in the small intestine, but reaches the large intestine, where it functions as a fermentable dietary fiber. Banana flour may have a high resistant starch content (>60%) or it may have a low resistant starch content (<10%), depending upon the drying procedures of the specific ingredient. Banana flour is often used raw, for example as an ingredient in smoothies or nutrition bars, because cooking may reduce the resistant starch content.
Animal feed and glue manufacturing
Banana flour is used as animal feed in various parts of the world. In particular, it is used as an ingredient in for calves. Dynasty Banana Flour Manufacturing and Trading in the Philippines and Taj Agro Products in India export banana flour worldwide for use in livestock feeds (where it acts as a coagulant) and for use in glue production, mainly plywood glue.“Banana Juice Powder.” Taj Agro Products.
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