When I was a Girl Scout decades ago, when we were at camp we would make “banana boats” - essentially, a whole banana still in the skin, sliced in half length-wise, topped with various additions, wrapped in foil, and steamed over the coals of a campfire.
This is a versatile concept that lends itself to modern updates. I keep ripe peeled bananas in the freezer, and it is easy to grab one, slice it into a bowl, add toppings, and microwave. In fact I just did this, with toppings of brown sugar, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and chopped candied ginger. Very nice.
Share with me your remembrances or updates for banana boat toppings. Mine include:
Marshmallows / marshmallow creme
Peanut butter
Chocolate chips
brown sugar
candied ginger
toasted coconut
What else?
I’ve never heard of these. Sounds tasty. I’d want to try it with one of my new obsessions. Spicy honey.
I used to smear peanut butter on bananas and sprinkle with Nestles Quick for kid snacks.
This has nothing to do with the banana boat treat, but it does bring up a nostalgic memory from my early childhood. My late parents were married in 1951, and had babies in ‘53, ‘54, ‘56, ‘57, ‘58, ‘59*, ‘60, and ‘61. During the early ‘60s, every Sunday morning we boys would wake up and find that the kitchen floor had been freshly mopped and waxed. We would also find, in the kitchen sink, two little plastic boats and plastic spoons, the kind that Foster’s Freeze served their banana splits in. Obviously, Saturday nights were when they deep-cleaned the kitchen together, then went for a walk to get themselves a treat.
Makes me smile to remember the three-inch stack of plastic boats that accumulated in the cupboard.
*1959 was the first time they had a baby girl.
We make these at grown-up camps. With rum, butter, sweet spices and demerara sugar.