Asia has its rice, the West its wheat and potatoes. But for people from the tropics, the banana is a primary staple. They mash it, fry it, grind it into flour, grate it for salads, brew it into beer and even thatch their houses with the banana’s broad leaf.
Americans, too, are banana fans. It’s the country’s favorite fruit, outselling the apple and the orange, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Schoolchildren eager to impress their teachers with a freshly polished apple may find a banana works better.
“Bananas are an easy eat. Apples aren’t as much fun and everyone hates to peel an orange,” says Susan Taylor, chief clinical dietitian at the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital.
Bananas and their relatives are imported year-round from tropical countries, such as Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico. Unlike some other tropical fruits, they cannot be grown in the chilly U.S. climate.
Bananas, practically fat free, are also rich in potassium, fiber and vitamins, Taylor says, which is why health-conscious Americans can’t seem to get enough of them. According to the International Banana Association, the average American consumed 29 pounds of bananas last year, about one a week.
The common Cavendish banana accounts for the vast majority of sales. But so-called boutique bananas, such as the baby or nino, red, plantains and manzano or “apple” bananas, are gaining in popularity for everything from cooking to table decorations. At Whole Foods, boutique banana sales have doubled since the first store opened in 1993, says produce coordinator Jason Duran.
These variety bananas–some sweet, others sour, with different textures–are popular in Asian, Caribbean and South and Central American cuisines, says Hieu Truong, produce manager of Five Continents, an importer and distributor of ethnic foods. Some varieties are best for cooking, not for eating out of hand. The International Club at 4000 W. 40th St., the retail club division of Five Continents, offers one of the widest selections of bananas in the area, from five to nine types, depending on harvest conditions.
Their increased availability has inspired chefs. At the Brazilian restaurant Rhumba, Scott Helm uses the plantain with pulled pork in an egg roll wrap, garnished with avocado puree, black bean sauce, chipotle cream and topped with a pineapple chutney. At Mango restaurant, Steven Chiappetti combines three banana varieties in a playful dessert of tiny chocolate-coated nino bananas hanging from the tail of a whimsical cast-iron monkey overlooking a plate of banana mousse coated with a caramel sauce. The mousse is studded with plantain chips.
It’s the plantain, not the apple, that readers of the Koran believe Eve used to tempt Adam in the Garden of Eden, according to Waverley Root in his book “Food, An Authoritative and Visual History and Dictionary of the Foods of the World.” Root also noted that the “early Hindu Christians envisioned Adam and Eve covering their nudity not with fig leaves but with banana leaves, more efficient for the purpose, since they run to 12 feet in length and 2 feet in width.”
For Americans, the familiar yellow Cavendish remains the overwhelming favorite of everyone from moms and dads packing the kids’ lunch boxes to athletes looking for what Duran calls “an energetic little piece of fruit.”
Ever since Americans were introduced to the Cavendish banana at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition (the same exhibition where the telephone was introduced), the popularity of this sweet, creamy fruit has soared.
When tennis star Michael Chang suffers from leg cramps in the middle of a match, his trainer rushes him a bunch of bananas at courtside. This portable, potassium-packed, carbohydrate-rich snack is said to help athletes avoid cramping. Dietitian Taylor questions whether eating several bananas could cure leg cramps so quickly, but she agrees they are an effective source of energy.
“If you want to find the route of a major bicycle race in Europe, just look for the trail of banana peels,” says the banana association’s Moore. “Practically every distance bicycler will tie a hand of bananas to his handle bars and pull them off to eat along the way.”
Fred Mathany, training and fitness editor for Bicycling magazine, says many American cyclists now favor energy bars, but “a lot of people still swear by bananas because they’re very high in carbohydrates so they replace energy fairly quickly and they carry fairly well. It’s not like you have a mushy peach back there in your jersey pocket.”
To doctors, they’re a natural cure for all kinds of ailments–from PMS because they’re a source of vitamin B6 to diarrhea because of their pectin. Some doctors recommend a banana a day to replace potassium. A recently released 12-year University of California study found that an extra serving of a potassium-rich food, such as a banana, could cut stroke deaths by as much as 40 percent.
No wonder the Swedish botanist, Linnaeus, gave the banana the Latin name Musa sapientum. It means the fruit of wise men.
GUIDE TO BOUTIQUE BANANAS
The tiny, yellow nino (sometimes called a lady finger) looks like a common Cavendish banana that never grew up. But it’s also sweeter and a popular table decoration.
The 3- to 4-inch red banana is creamier and not as sweet as a Cavendish. Eat it when its deep purple color has turned bright red.
Plantains are cooking bananas, often steamed or stir-fried. Larger than a Cavendish, the skin turns black when they’re ready to eat. Savory Puerto Rican, Colombian and Hawaiian dishes favor the firmer textured plantain.
Burros are the Asian version of the sour plantain, except fatter. Thais slice them raw for a salad that’s dressed with fish sauce, pepper and garlic. Vietnamese shred the burro blossom as a substitute for bean sprouts in soup.
The tiny yellow manzano or apple banana, 2 to 3 inches long, is not as sweet as a Cavendish and is named for its firm, powdery texture, similar to a Golden Delicious apple.
Yellow Hawaiian bananas are a plumper version of the burro. Fried Hawaiian banana chips have the mealy texture of a French fry.
BANANA CARE
– To ripen a banana, seal it overnight in a paper bag with an apple or tomato. The natural gases from other fruits speed up ripening.
– To preserve ripe bananas, put them in the refrigerator’s vegetable crisper, customarily set for about 57 degrees. Their skin will turn black but they’ll keep for 5 to 10 days.
– The best time to eat a Cavendish banana is when it is completely yellow with a few brown “sugar” spots. That means that all starches have converted to sugar.
BANANA STICKER COLLECTING
A hot commodity around school lunch tables these days are banana stickers. Adults, too, are trading the tiny labels. Catching on to the trend, producers of kids movies are now advertising their latest films on Dole banana labels. For the Directory of Banana Labels, send $25 plus $5 postage to Gerri Lorenzo, P.O. Box 1262, Visalia, Calif. 93279; her e-mail address is dlorenzo@lightspeed.net. Please Stop Snickering is a bi-monthly newsletter for produce label collectors. Send $10 for 6 issues to 4113 Paint Rock Drive, Austin, Texas 78731 or e-mail: khfoster@onr.com
BANANA NUTRITION
For only 90 calories and practically no fat or sodium in a medium banana, you get 395 milligrams of potassium, 23 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber. Other good things inside that yellow peel:
Vitamins
Vitamin B6 ……. 29 percent of RDA
Vitamin C …….. 15 percent
Vitamin A …….. *
Folic acid ……. 5 percent
Thiamin ………. 3 percent
Riboflavin ……. 5 percent
Niacin ……….. 3 percent
Minerals
Magnesium …….. 7 percent
Copper ……….. 6 percent
Iron …………. 2 percent
Phosphorus ……. 2 percent
Zinc …………. *
* Contains less than 2 percent U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance. Nutritional statistics are for 100-gm peeled banana (3.4 ounces)
Sources: USDA-assisted study by the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association; International Banana Association.
FRESH BANANA SALSA
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Serve this salsa as a topping or side dish for meats, such as roast pork, fish or poultry. Adapted from an International Banana Association recipe.
4 not quite ripe bananas, peeled, chopped
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
3 tablespoons diced green chilies
2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1. Place bananas in medium bowl. Add orange juice, lime juice, chilies, red pepper and cilantro to bananas. Stir to coat bananas with juice.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 115 Fat …………. 1 g Cholesterol .. 0 mg
Sodium …… 75 mg Carbohydrates .. 30 g Protein …….. 1g
BANANA MOUSSE
Preparation time 40 minutes
Cooking time: 5-8 minutes
Chilling time: 8 hours or overnight
Yield: 6 servings
Adapted from a recipe Steven Chiappetti serves at his Mango restaurant.
2 medium bananas, peeled, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Each fresh lemon juice, rum
2/3 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
1 pint whipping cream, whipped
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin dissolved in hot water, see note
Chocolate cake or your favorite flavor, baked in jellyroll pan
Caramel sauce, homemade or commercial
1. Combine bananas, lemon juice and rum in food processor fitted with metal blade or in blender. Puree until smooth. Set aside.
2. Put sugar in small skillet. Add just enough water to barely cover sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar mixture reaches soft ball stage (234 to 240 degrees). Beat egg whites in bowl of electric mixer on medium speed until semi-soft peaks form. Very slowly add thin stream of sugar syrup to egg whites on low speed. Increase speed to medium-high; beat until stiff peaks form and mixture is glossy.
3. Fold banana puree into meringue until completely incorporated. Fold in whipped cream. Fold in gelatin.
4. Make six cylinders, 2 inches in diameter by 4 1/2-inches tall, out of parchment or wax paper. Seal with tape. Cut six 2-inch circles from cake. (Freeze remaining cake for later use.) Place cylinders over each cake round. Fill with mousse mixture; gently tap plate on counter to fill in any air pockets.
5. Chill in refrigerator until set or overnight. Place dessert on plate; remove parchment paper. Drizzle top with caramel sauce.
Test kitchen note 2 gelatin sheets can be used instead of powdered gelatin.
Nutrition information per serving
Calories …… 420 Fat ………… 30 g Cholesterol .. 110 mg
Sodium …… 70 mg Carbohydrates .. 34 g Protein ………. 5g
BANANA CREAM PIE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 10-13 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
This recipe was developed in the Tribune test kitchen.
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 large eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
One 9-inch baked pie crust, cooled
3 ripe bananas, peeled, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Slightly sweetened whipped cream
1. Combine sugar, flour and salt in small bowl; set aside. Heat milk to simmer over medium heat in heavy saucepan. Gradually whisk in sugar mixture. Add eggs, whisking constantly. Heat custard to boil over medium heat until mixture thickens, 6 to 8 minutes, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer 4 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat; add butter pieces. Whisk until all butter is melted. Whisk in vanilla. Pour custard into bowl; place wax paper directly onto custard surface. Chill until completely cooled.
2. Spread 1/2 of the custard into pie crust. Combine bananas and lemon juice; stir to mix. Spoon bananas over custard layer. Spread remaining custard over bananas. Chill until ready to serve. Top with sweetened whipped cream.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ……. 285 Fat ………… 12 g Cholesterol .. 70 mg
Sodium …… 220 mg Carbohydrates .. 41 g Protein ……… 5g
PORK AND PLANTAIN EGG ROLLS
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Frying time: 2-4 minutes each
Yield: 8 servings
Adapted from a recipe from Scott Helm, executive chef of Rhumba.
Pork filling:
2 pounds pork butt roast
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 pieces dried chipotle peppers
Black bean sauce:
1 slice bacon, cut into thin strips
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeno, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) black beans,rinsed, drained
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup packed, chopped cilantro
Salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
Chipotle cream:
1 to 2 canned chipotle chilies
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
1 ripe plantain, chopped
8 egg roll wrappers
Vegetable oil for frying
Avocado puree or guacamole, pineapple chutney or favorite flavor, optional
1. Combine pork, celery, carrots, onion and peppers in Dutch oven. Add enough water to cover meat. Heat to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pork falls apart, about 21/2 hours. Cool slightly before handling. Pull meat apart; discard vegetables.
2. For black bean sauce, cook bacon in medium saucepan over medium-high heat until fat is cooked off meat, about 2 minutes. Add onion, garlic and jalapeno; cook until onions are soft, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in beans and water; heat through. Cool.
3. Put bean mixture in food processor fitted with metal blade or blender. Puree until smooth, adding additional water as needed. Place mixture in small bowl; stir in cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
4. For chipotle cream, put chilies, sour cream, lime juice, salt and pepper in small food processor fitted with metal blade or blender. Puree until smooth.
5. Heat oil to 350 degrees in deep saucepan or fryer. Place 1/8 of the plantain and 1/8 of the meat mixture onto an egg roll wrapper. Roll up wrapper tightly. Repeat with remaining wrappers. Fry egg rolls until golden brown, about 2 to 4 minutes; drain on paper towels. Cut in half diagonally.
6. Place a design of avocado puree, if using, black bean mixture and chipotle cream on each plate. Arrange egg roll on plate and top with chutney.
Nutrition information per egg roll:
Calories ……. 515 Fat ………… 23 g Cholesterol .. 85 mg
Sodium …… 300 mg Carbohydrates .. 48 g Protein …….. 30g
