I Am Bananas

If I am what I eat, I'm partly bananas. I eat one, sometimes two, of this sweet, soothing fruit each and every day.

The banana variety that is most often available in our markets is the long yellow Cavendish banana. Red bananas have been showing up in the Coop's produce section recently. When fully ripe, they are deliciously sweet with a bit of a berry-like flavor added to the usual smooth honey-like banana taste. If you have a chance, try other banana varieties: ladyfinger (also called baby or niZo) bananas, apple-bananas, or plantains.

I confess that I am not a fan of the starchy plantain. It seems much more like a vegetable than a fruit, and can be boiled, baked, or sautéed much as one might a potato. Perhaps my prejudice stems from my initial encounter when I tasted a plantain raw. I've since read that they are best when cooked.

Bananas are thought to originally have been indigenous to Malaysia, and to have spread west through Asia, India, and Africa well before Columbus landed in America. Alexander the Great reportedly saw bananas growing in the Indus River Valley as early as 300 BC. When Portuguese traders sailed to Africa's Atlantic coast, they discovered bananas growing in the Benin Kingdom's Niger River Valley. "Banana" is an African word. A Spanish missionary brought the first banana rootstocks to the New World in 1516.

Banana plants are the largest plants on earth that do not have a woody stem. Bananas do not grow on trees, but rather on stalks that can grow as high as 25 feet. The stalks are comprised of layers of big thick leaves. Banana plants are part of a large botanical family that includes lilies, orchids, palms and ginger. (Because of this botanical family affiliation, if you find yourself amongst the increasing number of peoples who are allergic to latex, you might also find eating bananas problematic.)

If you are buying a "bunch of bananas" at the market, you'll need a sturdy-shopping cart. A bunch of bananas typically weighs about 50 pounds. A "bunch" consists of many clumps of "hands" that hang around a central stalk. The connected cluster we pick up at the market is a "hand of bananas".

Bananas are picked green and later will ripen, at room temperature, off the stalk. The ripening of "conventional" bananas are hastened with the use of ethylene gas. A ripe Cavendish banana will be somewhat soft, though still firm, to the touch. The color will be yellow with tiny brown freckles. The taste is sweet, honey-like and comforting. The average American eats 25 pounds of bananas a year.

Since a hand of bananas all ripen at the same speed, once they reach your preferred degree of ripeness, you can place the remainder in the refrigerator for a couple of days. The skins will turn black, but the refrigeration will retard the ripening process - for a few days…. After that, it is time for banana bread.

Unripe bananas are astringent and chalky tasting. To my mind, the only good use for unripe bananas is to eat them to curtail a mild case of diarrhea. I have read that one can cook savory dishes with unripe bananas, much as one might use plantains.

A banana is a nutritional powerhouse, sometimes touted as "the world's most perfect food". The average-sized banana contains 104 calories, with nutrients including 450-mg of potassium, 33-mg magnesium, 23-mg phosphorus, 10-mg. each of calcium and vitamin C, 9 RE vitamin A, and trace amounts of boron, a mineral that helps use dietary calcium.

While an apple a day is supposed "to keep the doctor away," bananas may do the same or more. Compared to apples, bananas have less water, more food energy, four times more protein, half the fat, three times more phosphorus, and five times more vitamin A and iron.

Though I usually eat bananas raw (alone or with yogurt or ice cream), bananas are delicious cooked in quick breads, pies, cakes, doughnuts, or other sweet preparations. Bananas can also be used in savory dishes, relishes, or spreads. Maybe you, like Elvis, like to lunch on peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Broiled Bananas with Lemon and Sugar

4 ripe bananas
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 T. golden raisins
1 to 2 T. dark rum

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. Peel the bananas, and arrange them in one layer in a gratin dish. Pour the lemon juice over the bananas, and roll them in the juice to prevent them from discoloring. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over them.
3. Broil the bananas about 4 inches from the heat, until they are brown on top, about 4 minutes. Turn the bananas, and broil them again for 3 to 4 minutes, until they are brown on top. At this point, they should be soft when pierced with a fork. Scatter the raisins over them.
4. Cool the bananas until they are lukewarm, sprinkle them with the rum, and shake the dish to mix in the rum. Serve immediately.

Source: Sweet Simplicity, Jacques Pepin's Fruit Desserts.

While I remain very partial to the Moosewood Cookbook's delightful banana bread that uses strong coffee as a surprising ingredient, Mollie Katzen's bread calls for 2 sticks of butter. I offer instead a recipe, obtained from Dr. Weil's website, with more bananas and less fat than most other renditions.

Banana Bread

6 to 7 very ripe bananas
1 1/8 cups raw honey
1/3 cup canola oil
2 t. pure vanilla extract
3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

Mash the bananas and mix with the honey, canola oil and vanilla extract.

Sift together the pastry flour (not regular whole-wheat flour), baking soda and salt. Add the nuts.

Blend the two mixtures and divide into 2 lightly oiled loaf pans. Bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 40 minutes, or until the center is set.

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