View Full Version : ID plantains
Natureboy
01-26-2016, 07:42 PM
I cut off a bunch of plantains from a plant growing near my lake. The plant flowered at about 12-15ft high. The bananas are about 6 inches long, 1 3/4" wide on one side, and 2 1/4" wide on the other side view. Any ideas?
http://s24.postimg.org/onmjhb905/IMG_20160126_180916040.jpg
Tytaylor77
01-26-2016, 10:14 PM
Orinoco.
I'm no expert though.
Botanical_Bryce
01-26-2016, 10:16 PM
Thats what I thought. Grow everywhere and sorta boring fruit. Hardy though.
Gabe15
01-27-2016, 12:09 AM
Yep, 'Orinoco'. A nice plant, but not a true Plantain.
Natureboy
01-27-2016, 12:16 PM
Thanks, everyone - I suspected Orinoco, but have never had it so wasn't sure. For a banana that is not a true plantain, it sure looks like one (except I guess it's shorter than most plantain fruit). We sliced and cooked 10 of them last night that were yellow with some black on the skin. They were good just cooked in oil, but my kids liked them better with agave nectar and powdered sugar. This way, they tasted a lot like the thicker pancakes that my wife likes to make.
So, do orinoco get to a stage of ripeness when they are good for eating out of hand? If so, what is that stage exactly?
Tytaylor77
01-27-2016, 12:31 PM
Thanks, everyone - I suspected Orinoco, but have never had it so wasn't sure. For a banana that is not a true plantain, it sure looks like one (except I guess it's shorter than most plantain fruit). We sliced and cooked 10 of them last night that were yellow with some black on the skin. They were good just cooked in oil, but my kids liked them better with agave nectar and powdered sugar. This way, they tasted a lot like the thicker pancakes that my wife likes to make.
So, do orinoco get to a stage of ripeness when they are good for eating out of hand? If so, what is that stage exactly?
When they are very very ripe. I like em when the entire skin is black. They look bad and ruined outside but inside they are still good.
chong
01-27-2016, 08:26 PM
Thanks, everyone - I suspected Orinoco, but have never had it so wasn't sure. For a banana that is not a true plantain, it sure looks like one (except I guess it's shorter than most plantain fruit). We sliced and cooked 10 of them last night that were yellow with some black on the skin. They were good just cooked in oil, but my kids liked them better with agave nectar and powdered sugar. This way, they tasted a lot like the thicker pancakes that my wife likes to make.
So, do orinoco get to a stage of ripeness when they are good for eating out of hand? If so, what is that stage exactly?
When they are very very ripe. I like em when the entire skin is black. They look bad and ruined outside but inside they are still good.
As Gabe has stated the Orinoco is really not a true plantain. Orinoco is better as a cooking banana because, like Saba, the pulp is not easy to digest when eaten raw. While it is easier on the stomach when the peel is all black, and it is definitely sweeter at this stage, eating too much of it raw can still be a problem. It may be because of the remaining starch content in the fruit.
The green fruit is best fried as a cracker or chips, either salted, sugared, glazed, or boiled and mashed and mixed with shredded young coconut and raw sugar. The mid ripe fruit is great when boiled, roasted, or fried. In the Philippines, the boiled fruit is peeled and sliced diagonally 1/4" thick, and stored in brown sugar syrup. The banana in syrup is eaten with shaved ice and a "dousing" of evaporated milk as a snack. It is also added to another snack/desert called "halo-halo", a layered combination of the caramel banana, red gelatin, sweet red beans, sugar palm fruit, sweet garbanzo beans, leche flan, topped with shaved ice, "dousing" of evaporated milk, then again topped with purple yam paste and vanilla ice cream! (Geez, I wish it were summer, so I could make some.)
Chong
Natureboy
01-28-2016, 09:06 PM
Thanks for the info, Chong. Those recipes from the Philippines are interesting. I lived there for 4 years when a was a kid and my dad was stationed at Clark AFB. We left not long before Mt. Pinatubo erupted. I remember eating ice cream in the park off base that had such a strange flavor - it was probably papaya or something else that was really exotic for my taste buds at the time.
I'll have to try the Orinoco when the skin is totally black. Seems productive and hardy with little care, so why not grow it if I have the room?
chong
01-28-2016, 11:09 PM
Thanks for the info, Chong. Those recipes from the Philippines are interesting. I lived there for 4 years when a was a kid and my dad was stationed at Clark AFB. We left not long before Mt. Pinatubo erupted. I remember eating ice cream in the park off base that had such a strange flavor - it was probably papaya or something else that was really exotic for my taste buds at the time.
I'll have to try the Orinoco when the skin is totally black. Seems productive and hardy with little care, so why not grow it if I have the room?
Absolutely, Nate. Orinoco is really hardy, and a couple of members here have indicated that the taste is very much like Saba from the Philippines. If you ever ventured out of the Clark AFB, you probably saw sidewalk vendors plying "banana-Q". Those were Saba on barbecue bamboo skewers glazed with caramel, hence, "banana-Q". Actually, the glazing is just a covering with moistened brown sugar while roasting. If you have access to an Asian Supermarket, buy some Lumpia wrappers (thinner, wider version of egg roll wrappers). Slice the Orinoco pulp lengthwise 1/8" to 3/16" thick, place 1-teaspoon of brown sugar on each slice, wrap each in the Lumpia wrapper, and pan/deep fry in medium hot oil until golden brown. You can enjoy it as is, or cover with your favorite ice cream, a-la-mode. Or, just try pan frying the lengthwise sliced fruit until it's slightly glossy. It gets very flexible after this. You can eat it as is, sprinkle with sugar (brown is better), cover with shaved ice and doused with cream, or with ice cream.
The ice cream you had was probably soursop or sugar apple, of South American fruit origin. They are of the same family. If it were on the sweet side, it would be sugar apple ( Annona Squamosa), if somewhat tangy, it is the soursop (Annona Muricata). Both would be white colored. Papaya ice cream would be pale yellow or pale pink. I have never known for papaya to be made into ice cream in the Philippines. They grow everywhere with just discarding the fruit on the wayside. Atis (sugar apple) is more popular than Guyabano (soursop) ice cream, but both are very popular in the PI, especially with sidewalk vendors, but also with major ice cream makers -Magnolia and Selecta.
Keep Orinoco in your yard. It will serve you well. There are so many dishes that you can use it in. One of these days, when I have the time, I may even send out recipes on just this (Orinoco-Saba) banana. In between fruiting of the Orinoco, you can get Saba in most Asian supermarkets. Except for the fact that your Orinoco is fresh from the plant, I bet you, you will not know the difference.
Chong
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