Bananas are more than tasty treats, and their peels are even more amazing. So don’t throw them away without reading this article first!
There are plenty of surprises when it comes to bananas. Technically the banana tree isn’t even a tree, but an herb, and bananas should be practically inedible. Wild bananas come in a multitude of colors, but are filled with rock-hard seeds and very little fruit. The bananas we are used to eating are a hybrid of two wild species that shouldn’t be able to interbreed. The hybrid is sterile and this is why our bananas lack the tooth-breaking seeds that would make banana slices on peanut buttered toast, pancakes, or over oatmeal impossible or at 
least highly unpleasant. It also means the fields and fields of banana trees throughout the world didn’t come from seeds, but from cuttings, making every single one a virtual copy of the others.
There are more surprises too. Ripe bananas glow blue under black light. Yep, blue. Bananas are 80% water, but can’t be juiced. And these aren’t the only surprises those yellow peels are hiding.
1. Mood Elevator
Bananas contain tryptophan and vitamin B6, both of which help the body produce serotonin. Serotonin is the feel good hormone that combats anxiety, stress, depression, and season affective disorder.
2. Shine Shoes
The peel of the banana easily shines and cleans up scuffed shoes, though you should test it out on a small part before rubbing down your brand new sneakers.
3. Polish Silver
Just like with shoes, the peel of a ripe banana can polish silver quickly and easily without the mess, expense, and chemicals of other silver polishes.
4. Facial
A mashed banana can do wonders for the skin, gently hydrating and cleaning. It is also chock-full of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants that keep your skin young and healthy. Mix a mashed banana with other gentle cleansers for even more benefit, like olive oil, almond oil, or honey.
5. Fight Blemishes
Apart from a banana facial, the peel can do amazing things for acne and wrinkles too. The potassium and antioxidants help clear acne while hydrating and rejuvenating to decrease those wrinkles.
6. Wart Removal
The potassium and antioxidants aid the body in clearing out the viral infection that causes these unsightly growths. Rub a little banana peel on that wart each day.
7. Aphid Repellant
Cut up pieces of banana peels and bury them around plants that are being attacked by aphids and the aphids will slowly pack up and leave. It seems banana peels contain a chemical similar to the alarm pheromone aphids use to warn each other of danger, and as it breaks down in the soil it releases waves of warnings.
8. Fertilizer
Bananas and banana peels contain a plethora of vitamins and minerals, including potassium, which are beneficial for healthy plant growth. Dry out peels and grind them up using a food processor to use as mulch.
9. Whiten Teeth
Rub a banana peel on your teeth for several minutes each day and watch your smile brighten as the minerals and antioxidants go to work on your pearly whites.
10. Bug Bites
Banana peels soothe the pain, discomfort, and itching of bug bites and stings while speeding along the healing process. Give it a try.
11. Scrapes, Scratches, andBruises
The vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants you get when you eat a banana work on minor wounds to speed up healing and aid the body’s natural defenses against infection.
12. Splinters
Tape a piece of banana peel over the splinter and let the enzymes and antioxidants help remove it for you.
13. Rashes
Just like with bug bites, the banana peel can soothe the itch and pain caused by poison ivy, poison oak, heat, stress, and even eczema. Rub it in and feel better fast.
14. Hangover
The potassium, fiber, and water content of bananas helps rehydrate the body after a long night of overdoing it. The vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants can’t hurt either as your blood is in need of some rebuilding too after drinking has done its damage.
15. Constipation and Diarrhea
A banana can help with a mild case of either one of these uncomfortable problems, rebalancing the proper hydration of your intestines and encouraging the removal of toxins with a healthy dose of fiber too.
