NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY

NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY

February 23rd recognizes, and more importantly, celebrates a well-known food holiday, National Banana Bread Day. This is a favorite food holiday for National Day Calendar staff. We love banana bread more than we love chocolate cake! 

#NationalBananaBreadDay

Bananas first made their appearance in the United States in 1870, but were a luxury item for wealthier people. People mostly ate them fresh or as a fancy garnish. It would take a few decades before they started seeing the banana's potential. But then, history threw us a curveball that changed baking with bananas forever.

In the early 1900s when food was scarce, families rarely threw anything away--not even mushy, brown bananas. Homemakers quickly realized by adding mashed bananas to a batter of sorts, the icky fruit could become a delicious and inexpensive treat for their family.

By the 1930s, baking soda and baking powder made banana bread and other quick breads standard features in American cookbooks. Pillsbury’s included banana bread recipes in its 1933 Balanced Recipes cookbook, too. The release of Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book in 1950 further secured the banana bread's acceptance. 

Early Banana Bread

The Vienna Model Bakery is documented as one of the first bakeries to make banana bread. It shop advertised banana bread as something new in the April 21, 1893, edition of St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  A new restaurant/bakery chain owned by Gaff, Fleischmann & Company, The Vienna Model Bakery was known for its baked goods. Their original recipe was made with banana flour, made by drying strips of the fruit, then grinding it to a powder. This process had long been used in the West Indies.

In Hawaii during World War I, a surplus of bananas resulted from very few ships available to export the fruit. To prevent waste, alternative uses for bananas were developed. For example, bakeries started incorporating the fruit into their bread. This recipe was printed in The Maui News on April 12, 1918, for banana bread:

2/3 banana
1/3 flour
Yeast, coconut milk, or water

There was also rationing of staple food items such as flour. Banana flour was a suggested substitute. It was touted as a health food and recommended for a vegetarian diet.

Quick Bread vs. Muffin

The difference between a quick bread and a muffin in baking has a lot to do with the type of fat and how it is mixed, creating a different crumb or texture to the bread.

In 1927, Unifruit (a wholesale produce company) offered a free cookbook called From the Tropics to Your Table. The book offered recipes full of bananas as ingredients, including banana muffins and breads. This little cookbook would have been handy during the Great Depression, which was just around the corner. At the time, families utilized every scrap of food, including overripe bananas. They cooked overripe bananas and other fruits and vegetables into breads, stews, and other dishes when flavor and texture were not as appealing raw.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY

• Bake your favorite version of banana bread to celebrate.
• With so many varieties to try - banana nut, chocolate banana, and more - you can make more than one!
• Invite someone to join you or give a loaf or two away. 
• Visit your local bakery and pick up some banana bread. Don't forget to give them a shout-out!
• Use #NationalBananaBreadDay to post on social media.

NATIONAL BANANA BREAD DAY HISTORY

National Day Calendar continues researching the origins of this quick bread celebration. We suspect it was founded by someone who thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread!

Banana Bread FAQ

Q. Can I bake banana bread muffins instead?
A. Yes! That would be a perfect treat for the day.

Q. Can banana bread be frozen?
A. Yes. Wrap it well and place it in a freezer-safe container. It should keep for at least three months.

Q. My bananas aren't ripe enough for banana bread. What can I do?
A. Poke holes into the peel using a fork. Place in a 300°F oven for 15-20 minutes. The bananas should soften.

Q. My bananas are very ripe but I don't have time to bake banana bread this week. What can I do?
A. Freeze them in their skins. When you're ready to bake bread, let them come to room temperature and the bananas will slide right out of the skins and into your mixing bowl!