A few months ago I began to notice that the bananas I bought were becoming increasingly difficult to peel. While I could at one time easily break the stem of a banana with a flick of my wrist, I now struggled even to pierce the skin of my most prized fruity snack. On more than one occasion I gnarled my banana into such a state that when I finally got past its fickle skin I found only the mushy and withered corpse of what was to be a delicious treat.

Distraught over my impotence, I searched for a cause. Could these bananas be the product of genetic modification, which made their skin tougher and less receptive to my advances? Perhaps I was simply attempting to consume bananas that were not yet ripe enough to be eaten, and this Distraught over my impotence, I searched for a cause. Could these bananas be the product of genetic modification, which made their skin tougher and less receptive to my advances? Perhaps I was simply attempting to consume bananas that were not yet ripe enough to be eaten, and this was the bananas’ way of protecting me from a mouthful of hard and bitter fruit.

Although I did not find the answers I was looking for, I did come across a potential solution to my banana peeling woes. Another method of peeling one’s banana is growing in popularity, and there has even been research done on its effectiveness over more traditional banana peeling techniques. This method involves peeling the banana from its bottom (or more accurately, from the end without a stem). By pinching the end of the banana between the thumb and index finger the skin is easily broken, and peeling can commence. The stem of the banana can be used as a handle while eating. This method also has the advantage of removing many of the stringy bits of banana along with the skin which the traditional method of peeling is unable to do. Monkeys have been known to use this method of peeling their bananas, which has garnered the bottom-up approach even greater support.

However, there are disadvantages to this new style of peeling. First, as readers who have a banana handy may already have noticed, the end of the banana has a small brownish nub that is not terribly appetizing. So while consumers may be able to avoid stringy banana guts by peeling from the bottom, they are forced to deal with this unruly nub. The bottom of the banana However, there are disadvantages to this new style of peeling. First, as readers who have a banana handy may already have noticed, the end of the banana has a small brownish nub that is not terribly appetizing. So while consumers may be able to avoid stringy banana guts by peeling from the bottom, they are forced to deal with this unruly nub. The bottom of the banana is also much more likely to be bruised because of its stem-up placement on grocery store shelves.

There is another method of banana peeling, which aims to avoid the pitfalls of the aforementioned techniques. This method was first introduced to me by a coworker who offered a new solution to my banana-peeling woes. He believed that the reason I was unable to break the skin of my bananas using the traditional method was because I did not exert an adequate level of force on the stem of the banana. His method, also known as the Throwing Method, solves this problem by using both the weight of the banana and a forceful flicking motion to snap the stem. In this method, the stem of the banana is held in the fist of one hand, with the banana curving towards you, making a smile. The banana must then be thrust downward with the flick of your wrist. If performed correctly, this movement should break the skin of the banana.

The best method for peeling a banana ultimately depends on the individual. For limp-wristed creatures like the monkeys and me, the bottom-up approach is probably our best chance at getting past a tough-skinned banana. Any other method could leave us with such a mangled disaster that not even Les Stroude would be tempted by it.