Ok, so I’ve been allergic to bananas my entire life, well most of it anyways. I went to an allergist on Friday and found out I am no longer allergic to (who knows for how long I haven’t been allergic to them).
Since then I’ve eaten about 3. They are great. They aren’t really strong, kinda mushy, and the easiest fruit in the world to eat. You don’t need to wash them, you don’t need a napkin handy for all of the juice, and they’re simple to peel (unlike oranges).
Man, God really let one slip by him when he didn’t make any other banana like fruit.
It’s like getting a really nice present, isn’t it?
Do this: cut a banana in half lengthwise, and sprinkle the cut side with sugar. Take a butane lighter or torch and sweep the flame over the sugar until it melts and caramelizes (turns golden brown.) Munch happily. There are few things better than a crunchy caramel crust on a fresh banana. Mmmmm…
I like the flavor. I also like them fried, baked (banana bread), or pureed (smoothie). But I can NOT eat a raw banana. It’s a consistency thing. ::gag::
I think I’m gonna have to try fried banana tonight. I would try banana bread but I think the bananas need to be bad for it to work right and they way my husband and now I eat bananas, that ain’t never going to happen.
When I first saw Bananas Foster I immediately thought Banana flavored Fosters Beer and thought it’d be gross (not a beer fan to begin with). After looking at the link, I’ll definately attempt the Bananas Foster (especially since I’ve liked all the recipes I’ve ever tried from FoodNetwork).
Bananas and plaintains are essestially the same thing. They’re not even a different species, Musa X paradisiaca. They are simply different cultivated varieties.
There are actually a bunch of different kinds of bananas. Up here in the Northern Hemisphere, the only types we usually see are: 1. the yellow kind that many of us are happy to chow down on raw, and 2: Those big plantains used for making tostones or what-have-you. Now and then you might come across those little baby red bananas. But that’s about it.
In places where bananas and plantains are a big part of the local cuisine, there are tons of different types of bananas and banana-like fruits. Just tons. It’s pretty incredible, really.
Incidentally–in Brazil, bananas are considered the poor man’s food. So middle-class and above households tend not to have them. The fruits you’ve fallen in love with are considered too trashy to bother with. A Brazilian I met here in the US told me that seeing dishes like Bananas Foster on the menus at really nice restaurant was a pretty big shock to him.
The tiny bananas are much sweeter and “dryer” (perhaps starchier) than the normal bananas you buy at the supermarket. We used to have a tree that grew the little ones, before Hurricane Andrew blew it away in 1992.
And plantains, despite looking like bigger, bulkier bananas, definitely don’t have the sweet tenderness that allows you to just chow down on one after peeling it. You CAN eat them, I suppose, but they are pretty nasty raw. In Florida (and Latin American countries), you fry them, either getting them crispy and salty (tostones), or wait until they become mature and fry them for a delicious sweet side dish (platanitos maduros).
Oh, tostones! Wow, those things are yummy. They’re kind of like round, flat french fries, only with a slightly crunchier texture and a slight banana-like flavor.
I’d love to get me some tostones right now. But there’s nowhere around here that supplies them. Well, actually, there is, but it’s run by people I’d rather not see.
You MUST try banana pudding soon. Or, as my husband calls it, nanner pudding. You’ll find a recipe on most boxes of vanilla wafer cookies. You can just use some instant vanilla or banana cream pudding instead of making the pudding from scratch, if you want, but the “from scratch” recipe is better.
Bananas are very good when sliced over cold cereal (pour the cereal into the bowl, slice a banana over it, THEN pour on the milk) as well as in banana nut bread. If you want to try making the banana nut bread yourself, some supermarkets sell overripe bananas by the bagful.
You can cut them in half, put 'em on popsicle sticks, freeze 'em, and then dip 'em in chocolate. There’s a chocolate banana kit available, but Magic Shell works too.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I dunno, just seemed an appropriate time to say that…
Anyway, I may just be reading to much Jared Diamond, but my bet is God didn’t make bananas, we did. Just as we made inch and a half sized strawberries. And people think genetic engineering is a new thing.
And if you feel that much like singing their praises, you might want to check out Gravity’s Rainbow…don’t worry the banana part is in the first few pages. But as an ode and inspiration you couldn’t do better.
We sell those at my place of employment! Plain chocolate, with coconut, with sprinkles or with chopped almonds.
When I was in Girl Guides, we made Banana Dreamboats - you keep the banana in its peel, then cut out a little piece of the peel like a little flap and hollow out a little bit of the banana. Insert chocolate chips and marshmallows, and fold peel flap back down. Wrap in tinfoil and put in the embers of the fire. Eat it when it’s all melty!
Today, I suddenly got cramps in both my feet and one leg. I was told this could be a potassium deficiency. So, I am now going out to buy bananas. I haven’t had one for years… mmm… bananas…
Well, if you want something that isn’t covered in sugar, try some banana slices on toast. I haven’t been able to eat it in years, but I loved it for breakfast as a kid.
Toast two slices of bread. While that’s working, peel a banana, take a bite, then drop the rest in a bowl and mush it up with a fork. When the bread is done, slather one slice with CREAMY peanut butter, smear your mushed up nanner on the other slice, and slap’em together. After every bite make sure you lick around the edges of the sammich to catch the overflow.
Nummy. I think I’ll have a quick snack before I go to bed.
It’s like getting a really nice present, isn’t it?