a banana related question

[ratcreature]

I have a bunch of bananas that for some reason have just failed to turn from green to yellow, despite waiting quite a bit longer than that usually takes.

Could I cook or roast these unripe and just use them as a starchy thing, as if they were plantains? Would that work? Or would they still taste as gross as raw green bananas? I dislike that mouth coating feeling you get if you do try to eat them green.

I'm particularly thinking of oven roasting them in their skin in hopes to get that off more easily, but I never tried this.

Comments

[madripoor_rose]

I'd probably put them in a brown paper bag, the top rolled up shut, to see if I could get them to ripen. But I've never cooked banana other than making banana nut bread and have never cooked plantain.

[ratcreature]

I don't actually have any paper bags, only plastic freezer bags or linen shopping bags... Does it have to be paper?

I've made recipes with plantains, like some soup with black beans and plantains and they were quite neutral and they didn't have that gross mouthfeel. But I wasn't enamored enough to regularly seek them out at a green grocer or the African or Middle Eastern stores and they aren't usually sold at my regular supermarket.

[madripoor_rose]

I've only used paper bags...it might work? The idea is to contain an enzyme it releases as it ripens...if you have any other fruit already ripe you could put that in with it. I usually use green bananas to help green tomatoes ripen up.

I don't think the standard Cavendish eating banana is starchy enough to really cook with? I feel like it would fall apart into stringy mush. And maybe carmelize into sticky-sweet. I've never seen them on a substitution list for plantain.

[ratcreature]

I guess I'll have to experiment and report back the results.

[ratcreature]

I cooked two for breakfast inside their skins (removing the skin uncooked didn't work) and then cut them into slices and fried them in butter, and the pieces remained very firm through all of that. Holding up like firm potatoes or better. Taste is very neutral, like you could substitute for potato for starch and have less inherent flavor, but most of the gross green banana mouthfeel/aftertaste is gone, though a trace remains.

[madripoor_rose]

Fascinating!

Next time we can shop I'll have to get green bananas and try it myself!

[ratcreature]

It's not going to be a favorite of mine, but certainly better than wasting a bunch of bananas (organic & fair trade ones at that, so not the cheapest either). I'm trying the bag method with others, to see whether I might get them to ripen after all, because I still like bananas better as a sweet fruit than as a starchy vegetable.

[goss]

We cook green bananas all the time, but not sure how the Cavendish(?) variety that you guys get in the grocery would taste when cooked.

It's usually boiled in its skin, and then peeled and used in cooking.

Stuff that I do with cooked green bananas sometimes:
- Dice it and add to potato salad
- Mash, combine with cheese for a casserole
- Slice and add to vegetable soup

[ratcreature]

Well, the taste can't be worse than raw green banana... So how long do they need to be boiled on average?

[goss]

Green bananas are usually boiled for around 10 minutes.

Here's a recipe that is commonly used in my country. The page has pics of the whole process.

[ratcreature]

Thanks!

[sillimarilli]

It never hurts to cook them, regardless of whether they get out of that starchy, suck all the moisture out of your mouth, phase.

Bananas Foster is a personal favorite - with or without the rum. Basically cut them up, saute in butter, add brown sugar and cook until bubbly - add cinnamon if you like, a little bit of vanilla extract if you like. Eat with or without vanilla ice cream. (Don't let the sugar sit in the pan or it'll be a pain to get out.)

[ratcreature]

That was actually close to what I did with two this morning. No rum, but I added some walnuts.

[sillimarilli]

Yum *drools*

:)

Another option???

[harmonic_tabby]

My husband likes to slice a banana lengthwise in its peel, insert chocolate chips and then microwave. We're talking several tablespoons of chips and 30-60 seconds. Then he takes a spoon and scoops bites out of the peel. He ends up with hot bites of banana and slightly melted chocolate.

Not sure what that might taste like using GREEN bananas but one could certainly experiment. I rarely try this since I'm just not very fond of the banana/chocolate combination.

Tabs

Re: Another option???

[ratcreature]

I don't have a microwave. But I assume it wouldn't work with green ones, because the flesh doesn't get soft and it doesn't taste like banana. It would be more like chocolate on potato bits.