Sleepy Time Banana Peel Tea
If you’ve ever had trouble sleeping and would like a natural remedy, Banana Peel Tea may be your answer.
After spending last week making banana breads and banana cookies, I had plenty of peels saved up in the freezer. I washed them and removed all the stickers before use and froze them in a zip top bag.
I used wire racks as baking sheets and dehydrated the peels in the oven, leaving the door slightly ajar, at 170F.
It doesn’t take very long – I waited about 45 minutes, flipped all the peels over, and within another hour they were done.
I ground them up a bit and let them cool before storing the dried banana peels in a glass jar in my tea cupboard. I have an interesting collection of dried goods in there, I’ll share with you as time goes on!
So why on earth would I do all this?:)
Not only do banana peel contain soluble fiber, magnesium, potassium, and B vitamins but banana peels also contain the sleepiness inducing essential amino acid tryptophan.
The results? An all natural sleepy time tea!
This tea is perfect for a night time drink. It actually knocked me out quite effectively, so I don’t recommend it for daytime use unless you’d really like a nap.:)
To make a tea with your dried banana peels, just pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 tsp. of dried peels in an infuser. Steep for 2 – 5 minutes and enjoy.
The first time I made this, I added cinnamon stick, lemon peel, a few peppercorns, a few fennel seeds and honey.
The banana-cinnamon scent is comforting, and it had a nice mellow flavor.
For my second cup, I added the dried banana peel to a chai tea mix. Very nice.:)
Dehydrated banana peel is a great addition to your night time tea, will you be trying it?
posted by Mai Tran on April 14, 2015
This is a completely new idea to me! Would love to taste this tea.
posted by Richard Hicks on April 17, 2015
This is really interesting and I want to try it out.
posted by Fizzgig on April 21, 2015
I never had any idea you could make tea out of bananas. I always just toss the peels in my compost after my banana bread making frenzies. I’ll definitely have to give this a try. My hubby and I both have a hard time falling asleep.
posted by Yogurt Hydro on April 21, 2015
You can also use them in tea when they are fresh rather than drying them. I like having lots of flavoring options available in my tea cupboard, so dehydrating them makes sense for me.:) I’ve never used them fresh so I couldn’t tell you how much to use though! The trick is in warming them up to produce the most tryptophan.
posted by Alina Conn on June 19, 2015
I wasn’t aware that banana peels also contain the sleepiness inducing essential amino acid tryptophan. I will have to try this out!
posted by Linda Manns Linneman on July 11, 2015
What a healthy way to fall asleep. I never heard of doing this before. I also never realized banana peels had so many nutrients in them. Thank you so much for sharing
posted by johnhutchens1 on August 18, 2015
Very nice. I never would have thought of saving banana peels for a tea. Does it have a banana flavor? I love finding new things to make tea from. I am going to try this. It is very interesting.
posted by YogurtHydro on August 18, 2015
Yes, the peels are very much banana flavored.:)