In the kitchen with Kelley: Broiled banana (with peel) splits

A friend shared an article ^[1] with me recently and I learned I’ve been eating bananas all wrong, like most Americans. I learned that people in other countries, like India, consume the banana peel, or skin, which is chock full of good-for-you nutrients, including extra fiber.

The benefits of fiber in your diet are plentiful, but you’re probably thinking, as I did at first, that there’s no way the skin of a banana could be appetizing. The secret is to let it get a little soft, like it does when a banana ripens, or you can cook it.

Peaked by the significant percentage of nutrients I could share with my family, I decided to give it a try. After all, the peel of one medium sized banana, not including what you get from the banana itself, provides:

• 12% of your daily fiber, which helps with digestion and may help lower your risk of diabetes
• 17% of your vitamin C, an important immune-boosting nutrient, found to be effective  against cancer cells.
• 20% of your vitamin B-6, which helps convert food into energy.
• 12% of your potassium, which helps in development of cells, tissues, and organs throughout the body.
• 8% of your magnesium, a vital nutrient for these important reasons.

I found a great way to introduce it to the kids in a dessert I found on the Food Network site. The recipe didn’t originally call for leaving the skin on the bananas, so I just improvised. Not everyone was thrilled with the results, but my oldest son and I enjoyed the taste and texture, and I like that it was a lot healthier than most desserts eaten at my house. We’ll definitely be enjoying it again.

[1] People around the world are eating banana peels because they know something that Westerners do not