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Bananas are one of the cheapest and most widely available fruits, not to mention a convenient self-contained snack or meal you can take with you anywhere. Plus, if they’re overripe, we provide countless banana recipes that repurpose them, from baked goods to banana milk. Yet another way to transform bananas is by making an extract. And vodka is the one extra ingredient you need to make a game-changing extract at home.
An extract, like an infusion, utilizes a liquid to draw the flavorful oils and sugars out of the food in question. And many common extracts like vanilla and almond are alcohol-based. Vodka, like bananas, is an incredibly versatile spirit due to its mild, almost imperceptible flavor. That means vodka-based banana extract will really let the banana flavor shine. Making banana extract is as simple as its ingredients list. Just mash up some overripe bananas, add them to a sealable jar, fill the jar up with vodka, and let it sit for between 3 and 4 weeks, shaking the mixture every few days. Then, pour the extract through a strainer to isolate the liquid.
If you don’t want to use vodka, you can also use rum as the alcohol-based solvent for the banana extraction. Rum has a much more distinct flavor than a more neutral spirit like vodka, but you can use that to your advantage to create a more complex, tropical flavor agent for dessert recipes.
Ways to use banana extract
If you want to up the intensity of your banana extract, you can dehydrate banana slices instead of mashing them up before adding the vodka. Dehydrating sucks out all the moisture that otherwise softens the banana flavor, thereby optimizing its sweet and fruity essence. We like this food dehydrator from Elite Gourmet for under $40.
Banana extract takes some patience, but the result will supply you with enough to last you through many different dishes. A few drops of banana extract will take all kinds of baked goods, drinks, and smoothies to the next level. You can add a drop or two of extract to a cream cheese frosting or a store-bought white icing to spread over a banana cake, likewise spiked with banana extract. For a healthy and flavorful breakfast, add banana extract to plain or vanilla yogurt.
Banana extract will bring this copycat recipe for Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s Bahama Mama smoothie to new heights, pairing beautifully with coconut, pineapple, and strawberries. Peanut butter and banana are a match made in heaven, so you know a peanut butter cookie would benefit from banana extract. You can also use banana extract as a flavoring agent for simple syrup to sweeten and flavor rum cocktails or tropical mocktails.
