How to Get the Most Out of Bananas: Firm and Fresh to Mushy Melancholia

in food •  7 years ago  (edited)

Mushy and slimy, the well-recognised banana is often relegated to baby food or as a food for athletes.

Well, Hello Again Esteemed Steemians,

When the cycle of wonder-foods rolls back around to bananas, they are purveyed as some kind of superfood with magical, heal-all properties. As a vegan, I know they are damn good replacements for all sorts of animal products used in a variety of recipes.

Not all bananas are equal all of the time. However, given time, this equality presents itself to all banana kin. And that’s just it – time.

Bananas, like all fruits ripen over time. The ripening is a part of ageing or senescence. Their sugars increase while they are on the plant and continue to do so as they leave it. The combination of sugar production with moisture loss creates an increase in flavour intensity, but people are regularly turned off by diminishing appearance and structural integrity of the fruit. Yeah, mushiness and age spots are a big deal, apparently.

So here’s the low-down.

What can you use bananas for? Obviously, you can eat them as is, but are we apes or do you want to know how to make the most of your kitchen appliances?

Green banana.JPG
The floury filth of a green banana. You're crazy if you're into these.

Early Stage One - “Unappetisingly Early”

These battle-hardened warriors could withstand a beating from a nineties-fit Arnie, get to Everest and back without a bruise, welt or graze and still be unfit for human consumption. Please, do yourself a favour and let the banana stew in it’s own ethylene gas and transmogrify into Dr. Jekyll (consider every green banana a dastardly Mr. Hyde) before considering gobbling into it.

Ethylene is a naturally occurring gas generated by plants as part of the opening of flowers, ripening process of fruits and abscission of leaves. It is flammable (in high concentrations) and interestingly, when passed through steam at 300 degrees Celsius and between 60 and 70 atmospheres in the presence of a phosphoric acid catalyst will produce a hydrated version of itself - ethanol! (the common alcohol in beer, wine and spirits).

DSC09823.JPG

Stage One - “Youthfully Yellow”

Great for taking on hikes, throwing in the car for a breakfast addition on the way to work or as the afternoon balanced sugar hit. These are the bananas that everyone knows and loves. If they're still in your bag by the end of the day, no doubt they've transitioned to Stage 2 but great to eat on the bus ride home.

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Stage Two – “Speckled Silly”

These guys will get out out of a bind, if need be. But be careful of their usage for mobile snacks. Over-handle or knock them about, and they’ll go even darker to which you’ll be turning your nose up at and wishing you’d been more careful. At this stage, they’re a delight eat as is and fine to add to cooked foods. They're perfect in banana bread, smoothies, pancakes, cakes and muffins. As a vegan, people often ask me how I get by without eggs. Aside from products like arrowroot and cornstarch that are fantastic, bananas are a really good binding agent. Often, that’s all the egg is use for – as a binder. Get rid of the cholesterol-ridden egg and opt for the potassium and fibre-laden banana!

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Stage Three – “Browning Bombshell”

Let’s get real here. Only the seasoned banana connoisseur can detect the differences between stage 2 and 3. Additional spinal browning, agglomerated pigmentation and further development of an umber hue are features of this transition. As far as you're concerned, use as you would a Stage 2 banana.

Black banana.jpg
Let's get real. This is an hour away from maggots.

Stage Four – “Distastefully Darkened”

At this point, you’re not willing to sacrifice the car seat or you own tastebuds to eat this sucker raw. Relegate him to the freezer for later use. Preferably in something that will require some oven time! If you want to make your ice cream sweeter without adding additional sugars like maple syrup or refined white sugar, “distastefully darkened” bananas will suit this purpose perfectly!

(Ok.. so there probably is a Stage 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 all the way up to 4. I didn't have those bananas at home and wasn't prepared to use any more images that weren't my own. Get off my back, yo!)

Recognition of the edibility of green bananas

In the interests of entertainment, I wrote that green bananas are unfit for human consumption. If you like floury, bitter bananas, who am I to stop you? They are entirely edible. By entirely, I don't mean the skin, too. Dolt. On the plus side, they are full of resistant starch, which is great for digestion.

If you thought the article was full of cr@p, informative, preposterous or just plain outrageous, hit the UPVOTE.

If you really loved it, do me a solid and hit the resteem button. (see that, I didn't even bold RESTEEM .. just trying to be subtle about self-promotion. You've got to be tactful, you know.)

All the best,
Nick

Acknowledgements

Frontline Services website provide excellent information about ethylene and it’s role in the ripening process of climacteric fruits.
http://www.frontlineservices.com.au/Frontline_Services/Fruit_ripening_gas_-_ethylene.html

Chemguide (a nerd’s paradise for chemistry enthusiasts)
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/equilibria/ethanol.html

Healthline
http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/green-bananas-good-or-bad#section1

“Distastefully Darkened” banana photo courtesy of BakeThisBread
https://bakethisbread.com/2012/12/07/black-banana-bread-recipe/

"Unappetising Early' banana photo from Authority Nutrition
https://cdn.authoritynutrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bright-green-banana-large. jpg

All content is original.

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Wow this is great! Thanks for this in-depth info on bananas! What an interesting and unique idea :D

Hi Natasha,
Thanks for the comment. I've always been a bit fascinated by the process bananas go through until they are just.. ick! Thought it would be an amusing write up.

Nick

You should come to Paraty Brazil - here they have so many different types of banana it's wonderful! Prata/maça/arnica/agua/ouro/terra/roxa....to name but some of the more obvious varieties. It really does open up a whole new ballgame compared to having just "banana"! They each have their own different qualities and flavours.
Also, there's a movement called "non-conventional food plants" (PANCs) here in Brazil, and within it many people are experimenting with eating green banana in different ways (my favourite is chocolate truffle), and also the skins of bananas (made into burgers for example)! They even eat the banana heart, a sort of purple flower that hangs off the bunch of bananas, and you can even eat parts of the stem like a bamboo.

Maybe I should do a post about all this?

Hi Kate,
You should definitely do a post on just that topic. Take your time and get it just right! Sounds like a magnificent idea.

Thanks for having a peek at my writing. I do appreciate it!

Regards,
Nick

No worries - I love food and I'm a recovered banana hater - made peace with bananas after coming to Paraty ;)

If anyone wants to know the grave impact of going Vegan and the easier methods to adopt ZERO cruelty on animals....plz read this and share it as much as possible
https://steemit.com/vegan/@cutu/will-going-vegan-save-our-planet-from-climate-change

If anyone wants to know the grave impact of going Vegan and the easier methods to adopt ZERO cruelty on animals....plz read this and share it as much as possible
https://steemit.com/vegan/@cutu/will-going-vegan-save-our-planet-from-climate-change

Green bananas yum!

Haha. Glad someone likes them!!

All the best,
Nick

Hah ..love your posts @nickmorphew .. superupvoted

Haha I was very much considering submitting this myself, It really is an excellent post, however I thought it might just be a bit too Niche, Nevertheless I'm really glad It got the Curie vote it deserved! :)

Yeah..

You never really know what's going to hit. I just write what comes to mind. I just make sure it's of high quality and entertains. It wont always hit everyone's buttons, but you can't please everyone all of the time.

I'm super glad you think it's worthy!

Nick

well deserved @nickmorphew

:)

If anyone wants to know the grave impact of going Vegan and the easier methods to adopt ZERO cruelty on animals....plz read this and share it as much as possible
https://steemit.com/vegan/@cutu/will-going-vegan-save-our-planet-from-climate-change

Thank you!

You're very kind. I'm very excited by the level of upvoting I'm getting lately. Anything else you've particularly enjoyed? I have really been loving writing lately.

What's your name, Mr. Bitrocker2020? I'd like to thank you for your support by name! Thanks for the resteem on your page, also. I'm chuffed.

All the best,
Nick

Awesome stuff man! I had no idea there were so many hidden "stages" of bananas and found it very interesting how the uses of each stage differ in cooking, as I typically cook a lot myself. Would you need to prepare a Banana for use as a 'binding' agent? If so how would you do this?

Thanks for the kind words, my friend. Haha.. these stages are my own creation, in terms of their naming and description per se.

Regarding your question as to whether you need to prepare a banana as a binding agent, the answer is "no", you don't. -- Although does mushing up count as prep? If so, then "yes", you need to mush it up!

Bananas with spots are better to use for this purpose (mainly for flavour). Use them in pancakes, muffins and various sweet 'breads' - banana bread is an obvious one!

Thanks so much for your vote and for taking time out of your day to read my ramblings!

Regards,
Nick

No worries mate :D That's pretty legit, the stages that you've shown do seem to match up with physical changes of the banana so it's a good characterization there, awesome It's good to know (about the cooking prep and use in pancakes and muffins).

Again no worries :) It was an excellent article and absolutely worthy of the Curie up vote it gained :D

Upvoted do upvote my comment or blog too. Thanks

Thanks for your upvote. All the best.

Nick

Great post. I will share this with others.

Thanks for the support! I'm glad you're enjoying the content.

Nick

If anyone wants to know the grave impact of going Vegan and the easier methods to adopt ZERO cruelty on animals....plz read this and share it as much as possible
https://steemit.com/vegan/@cutu/will-going-vegan-save-our-planet-from-climate-change

Thanks for the comment - I'm happy for the self-advertisement if you're repaying with an upvote ;)

Take care,
Nick

:-) sure

Bananas are one of my favorite fruits. I like when they are mature. Do you know how to get their excellent maturity? I buy green bananas and put them in a clothes closet. After three days the bananas are very ripe and tasty and in the closet feel their smell for a long time.

Nice one! Got to love the power of ethylene gas!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nick

O yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nick

If anyone wants to know the grave impact of going Vegan and the easier methods to adopt ZERO cruelty on animals....plz read this and share it as much as possible
https://steemit.com/vegan/@cutu/will-going-vegan-save-our-planet-from-climate-change

Duplicate comments in blatant self-promotion? You're going the right way for a downvote.. :/

Tread lightly.

Nick

Yo am I the only one who got excited and eyes went straight for that big bold ETHANOL!? That was interesting - I still love those brown badboys in the morning even though even without the rig to do that reaction.

Got my 3.3s lined up for banana bread in the morning. Nice article - ill check out your recipes now too if you have one. Cheers!
IMG_20170822_241013189.jpg

Nice one!

Thanks for the comment, @matchbox23. Thanks for the feedback and interest in other upcoming recipes, too. I'm not sure many people would have the rig to extract ethanol - however, it's reasonably simple. It's a distillation procedure that relies on the differing boiling points of ethanol vs water. Ethanol comes off first where the gas is cooled and condenses back to a liquid in a tube and captured separately.

All the best,
Nick

Find my latest recipe here: https://steemit.com/food/@nickmorphew/how-to-bake-scones-vegan-style-cruelty-free-living-made-easy