Banana flour focuses on nutritional benefits

WEDO, a Utah-based company, is looking at expanding uses for its banana flour. WEDO Banana Flour is made with unripe green bananas.

The company was founded after co-founder David Wintzer worked in Africa distributing microloans to businesses, including a banana flour factory. Once stateside again, Wintzer and co-founder Todd Francis looked more into banana flour’s nutritional benefits and created WEDO Banana Flour.

WEDO’s banana flour is manufactured in Ecuador and Peru. The unripe bananas are peeled, cleaned, sliced, dried and milled into banana flour. The flour is then shipped to Utah to be packaged in ice cream containers and distributed.

The banana flour is marketed toward those seeking a more healthy and nutritious lifestyle, such as gluten-free, vegan and paleo. A key attractant for customers is the banana flour’s resistant starch trait, Wintzer said.

“Resistant starch is a prebiotic that helps with digestion, promotes weight loss,” Wintzer said. “There’s only a few products in the world that contain resistant starch and green bananas are at the top of that list.”

WEDO uses unripe bananas because they have yet to develop their sugar content or banana flavor.

“(Green bananas) are high in starch which allows them to bake really well. It still retains all the nutritious property values of a banana but the sugar hasn’t developed,” Wintzer said. “If we use a ripened banana it becomes more of a banana powder versus a flour so you’re going to get that sweetness. But you can’t bake with it, it clumps up.”

WEDO customers are using the banana flour as more than just a baking alternative. Wintzer noted a trend among customers is the raw consumption of the banana flour, mixing it into their protein shakes or smoothies. The company is now looking at expanding into the nutritional supplement world, Wintzer said.

“If we move into the nutritional supplement world it might be fruits, it might be roots or vegetables that are on the cutting edge of nutritional health benefits” and can be added to a ready-to-make protein shake type mix, Wintzer said.

WEDO Banana Flour is currently available in more than 600 stores throughout the country. Visit the Banana Flour website to find a store near you. The banana flour is available online as well through BananaFlour.com, Amazon and Abe’s Market.