What To Know Before Canning Bananas

Home canning is a great way to preserve various foods that might otherwise go bad. Salsas, pickles, and veggies like green beans or carrots are all great foods to water bath can or pressure can (avoid dry canning, which can be dangerous). Each process consists of loading jars with your favorite foods, then exposing them to heat — either through hot water or steam — to kill any bacteria while simultaneously removing air. This creates a pressure seal and is the reason you hear a "pop" on a jar when you open its lid. However, not all foods can be canned easily. As much as we love bananas, there is no safe way to properly can them at home — but you can still include them in other canned foods.

There are a number of reasons why some foods cannot be canned. It might have to do with pH, moisture level, or the inability to properly transfer heat. Bananas have two things working against them: They're dense, so the heat transfer process doesn't work as well, and they're low-acid, meaning they don't create the right environment to fend off microorganisms on their own.

Bananas can't fly solo in a jar, but if they're paired with the proper ingredients, they can be canned. For example, bananas will work if they're mixed into a jam or chutney due to the additional ingredients, such as cider vinegar, high-acid fruits, and lemon juice, all of which have very low pH levels. Microorganisms can't thrive in an acidic environment, so cooking the bananas in this type of environment would render them safe.

With that said, it's technically possible to can bananas without turning them into a jam or chutney, but you absolutely have to include another high-acid ingredient, like vinegar or lemon juice. You can't can whole bananas, though; mash them to break them up, which removes that density and allows the heat to properly treat them. If you're canning a few bananas, use either 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or 1 teaspoon of more-concentrated citric acid. If you don't want to risk canning bananas, you can dry them out in the oven (and turn them into chips) or stick them in the freezer.