Uses for Orange and Banana Peels, and Which Health Claims Hold Up

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Uses for Orange and Banana Peels, and Which Health Claims Hold Up

Orange and banana peels are worth keeping, but mostly for practical reasons rather than medical ones. Orange peel gives zest, candied peel, a natural room scent and a gentle cleaning oil; banana peel makes good compost, can polish leather and houseplant leaves, and is eaten as a vegetable in several cuisines. The long lists of health "cures" that circulate online, from banana peel for warts and headaches to orange peel for asthma, are a different matter: very few have been tested in people.

Here is what you can usefully do with each peel, how to prepare them safely, and which popular claims hold up.

Orange peels in the kitchen

The coloured outer layer of an orange, the zest, holds the fruit's aromatic oils. That is why a little grated zest lifts cakes, dressings, marinades, rice dishes and hot drinks far more than juice alone. Use a fine grater or a peeler and stop before the white pith, which is bitter.

  • Candied peel: simmer strips of peel in water a couple of times to soften the bitterness, then cook them in sugar syrup and dry them. They keep for weeks and are classic in fruit cakes and panettone. They are a sweet treat, though, not a health food.
  • Dried peel: dried orange or tangerine peel is a traditional seasoning in Chinese cooking and works well in stews, spice rubs and tea blends.
  • Infusions: a strip of peel in sugar, vinegar or olive oil flavours it within a few days.
  • Brown sugar: a piece of fresh peel in a sealed bag or jar of brown sugar helps keep it soft. It works by giving off a little moisture, not by absorbing it, so remove the peel once it dries out or starts to look mouldy.

Choosing and cleaning oranges for zest

Many conventional citrus fruits are treated after harvest with fungicides such as imazalil and thiabendazole and coated with a glazing wax, to stop mould on the way to the shop. These treatments are approved within legal residue limits, and the residues sit mainly on the peel. Washing cannot remove them completely, so if you plan to eat the zest regularly, buy fruit labelled unwaxed or organic, since organic standards do not allow those fungicides.

For any fruit, the US Food and Drug Administration advises rinsing under running water before you cut or peel it, scrubbing firm produce with a clean brush and drying it with a clean towel. It says soap or commercial produce washes are not needed. Home mixtures of vinegar and lemon juice are harmless but do not remove pesticides better than water and scrubbing.

Orange peels around the home

The main oil in citrus peel is limonene, which is also used commercially as a fragrance and as a plant-based solvent in cleaning products and adhesive removers. That makes orange peel genuinely handy around the house:

  • Simmer pot: boil peels in a pan of water with a cinnamon stick or a few cloves to cover cooking smells and freshen a damp-smelling room.
  • Citrus vinegar cleaner: fill a jar with peels, cover them with white vinegar, leave for two weeks and strain. Dilute it with water for wiping counters and glass. Do not use vinegar on stone such as marble.
  • Fire starters: fully dried peel burns well because of its oils.
  • Compost: citrus peel breaks down in a normal compost heap. Chop it to speed things up and mix it with other kitchen scraps.

Be careful about putting peel or citrus oil directly on your skin. Limonene can cause contact dermatitis in some people, and once it oxidises in air it forms compounds that are recognised skin allergens. Rubbing peel on oily skin or acne is more likely to irritate than to help.

Banana peels: the uses that work

Banana peel is mostly fibre, with some protein, minerals and, in ripe fruit, a good deal of sugar. It is bitter and tough raw, which is why most people never eat it, but it has several real uses.

  • Food: cooked banana and plantain peel is used in parts of South and Southeast Asia and in Venezuelan cooking, often in curries and fritters. Recently it has also been shredded and fried as a vegan substitute for pulled meat. Wash it well and cook it thoroughly.
  • Animal feed: farmers in banana-growing regions feed peels to cattle, goats, pigs and poultry.
  • Compost and soil: peels rot quickly and add organic matter and potassium to compost. Burying whole peels at the foot of a plant is less useful, since they can attract pests while they decompose.
  • Polishing: the inside of a peel can buff leather shoes and wipe dust from the leaves of houseplants. Wipe off any residue with a soft cloth afterwards.

Can banana peel clean water?

This one has real science behind it, though not as a home trick. In 2011 a team led by Gustavo Castro in Brazil reported in the journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research that minced, dried banana peel removed lead and copper from river water in the laboratory as well as, or better than, many other materials, and could be reused up to 11 times. That makes it a promising low-cost filter material for research, not a way to purify your tap water by dropping in a peel.

Health and beauty claims, checked

Orange peel

Orange peel does contain many plant compounds, including flavonoids such as hesperidin, and laboratory and animal studies on peel extracts are ongoing. Popular articles quote a figure of more than 60 flavonoids and 170 phytonutrients in an orange, a claim credited to the food writer Rebecca Wood; it gives a sense of the variety but says nothing about health effects at the amounts people eat. There is no good evidence in people that eating orange peel dissolves cholesterol, prevents colon cancer or osteoporosis, eases asthma or cures insomnia. A US government cancer agency notes that there is no consistent evidence that limonene, from citrus or supplements, helps cancer patients.

The Ayurvedic idea that orange peel aids digestion and appetite is a traditional belief, not a tested treatment. Small amounts in food are fine for most people, but concentrated peel extracts and oils are not harmless snacks.

Banana peel

Claims that rubbing a banana peel on the skin heals warts, psoriasis, bruises, acne, rashes or wrinkles, or that laying it on your forehead relieves a headache, are not supported by clinical studies. The same goes for teeth whitening: dentists point out that peel cannot change the colour of enamel, and rubbing anything gritty on teeth can wear it. A cool, damp peel may feel soothing on an itchy bite, much like any cool compress, and that is about as far as the evidence goes.

Two practical warnings. Taping fruit peel over a splinter or a wart for days can soften the skin and invite infection. And persistent warts, spreading rashes, psoriasis and splinters you cannot remove deserve proper care: talk to a doctor or a pharmacist.

Myths that keep circulating

"The peel is the most nutritious part"

Peels do concentrate some fibre and plant compounds, but the flesh still supplies most of the vitamins people eat oranges for. Grating some zest into food is a nice bonus, not a supplement.

"A homemade wash removes almost all pesticide"

No kitchen rinse removes surface residues entirely, and waxes and post-harvest treatments are designed to stay on. Choosing unwaxed or organic fruit for zest is the only reliable way to avoid them.

"Banana peel is a secret skin and teeth treatment"

These remedies spread because they are cheap and easy to try, not because they were tested. Their main risk is delaying proper treatment.

"You will slip on a banana peel"

That one is partly true. Researchers who measured the friction of banana peel on linoleum found it remarkably low, thanks to a gel released when the peel is crushed, and won a 2014 Ig Nobel Prize for the finding. Put your peels in the compost bin, not on the floor.

A simple plan for your peels

  • Zest unwaxed oranges before you peel or juice them, and freeze the zest in a small bag.
  • Dry spare orange peel for tea, cooking or fire starters, or soak it in vinegar for a cleaner.
  • Use a banana peel to buff shoes or houseplant leaves, then compost it.
  • Put everything else in the compost or food-waste bin rather than general rubbish.

Sources: FDA: 7 tips for cleaning fruits and vegetables; Fact Crescendo: Coatings and fungicides on oranges; Wikipedia: Limonene; Wikipedia: Banana peel; ScienceDaily: Banana peel can purify water (2011); originally shared by Natural Cures Not Medicine, referencing Prevent Disease.

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