How do I turn a banana mushy quick?

[wise_rita]

This must be one topic the Googlewebz has not yet covered!

Do you think putting it in the freezer for a few hours, then taking it out and thawing it will make it mushy?

[dorothyinAus]

Depends on what you want to do with it. Freezing & thawing should work, but peel it first. I find the peel nearly impossible to get off frozen bananas. Keeping them in the fridge should work as well.

If all you need is a mashed banana, as long as it's not green you should be able to mash it with a potato masher or a mixer. If you have a potato rice, you could use that as well.

If you have green bananas, your best option is to head to the store and get riper ones.

[allibally]

I admire your improvising! I say fridge will work well.

I've gotten sore fingers from mashing yellow bananas with just a fork since I was too frugal to buy a masher in Switzerland. The last carrot cake I made I used a a potato peeler and then cut the pieces because we didn't have a proper grater!

[jennybee1018]

While you can put it in the freezer, and the skin will turn brown, the banana won't be mushy. I'd suggest roasting them in the oven at a 350 for 15 minutes.

www.amandakjones.com/how-to-ripen-bananas-quickly-for-baking.php

Also, you can apparently place the bananas in a paper bag with an apple or tomato and that will expedite the process as well. (I haven't tried this method)!

lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/how-to-ripen-bananas-4079.html

[centralperk]

put it out in the sun, and also if you put it with another piece of ripe fruit that works too.

[wise_rita]

I did go the freezer route, since I did this before I got most of these responses.

It worked quite well. I put it in the freezer for an hour and a half, and it was frozen solid. I took it out and let it thaw for about an hour, so it was easy to peel and mash.

The outside (of the edible part) was more mushy than the inside but it did the trick nicely. No sore fingers here!

Thanks for your ideas.