Banana Peel Shoe Shine

A while back, I bought a huge amount of bananas because they were super cheap, which I then froze to use in smoothies and banana ice cream. Banana ice cream is, by the way, possibly the best dessert there is. Blend some banana with raspberries, and a few dates if you want it sweeter, and put in the freezer and it will be super delicious and healthy. Anyway, so there I was with, like a billion banana peels (okay, maybe more like 30, still, loads), and I realised that this was the perfect time to try out something I had read about – banana peel is a great shoe shiner! Bananas contain potassium, an ingredient commonly found in conventional shoe polish products, and the oil from the banana skin will absorb into the leather, resulting in shiny shoes that will last longer.

Polishing your shoes with banana peel is super easy – rub the inside of the skin all over your shoes in a circular motion, just like when applying regular shoe polish. Take a soft cloth or shoe shine brush and buff your shoes until they look shiny and new!

As a bonus, you can also use banana peel for a whole bunch of other things, like whitening your teeth and feeding your plants. Read this post for more information. For more homemade shoe shine recipes, see here. And in case you’re interested in other ways of using leftover food, check out this blog post.