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from wikepedia reguarding plantains in general:

"Rootstock
The rootstock which bears the leaves is soft and full of starch just before the flowering period, and it is sometimes used as food in Ethiopia; the young shoots of several species are cooked and eaten"

always a cook, i've not done this yet...anyone using this rootstock for food?...like in stir fry?

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I believe the article refers to situations in which other foods are scarce.

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Welcome to the site! I hope you enjoy it here. As far as eating the roots....I know ensete's are often grown in other countries for their large corm (root structure bananas have that's kinda like a potato) which is eaten. I've never heard anything about how it tastes or how to prepare it, but I'm sure someone around here knows.

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Welcome to the org triple J, if you are in a location that gets travel channel's "bizzare foods" there is an episode where host Andrew Zimmern travels to Uganda where the native population uses Ensete Ventricosum as a major food source. He didn't care for it much though.

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Paulie (Damaclese) has some info about this. The corm of the Ensete ventricosum is eaten in Africa. I am certain he will post more for you about that.
Welcome to bananaland!

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There are several papers at Biodiversityinternational.org on this subject, some with nice pics.
You can also search for Ensete - Ethiopia - corm (or a combination of any relevant keywords)..... and find papers in Google books.

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Welcome aboard, John! I was wondering when you'd turn up.

Ensete corm is quite tasty imho... I like it raw, grated over salads the way one would normally use carrots. You can also cut it into chunks and boil it lightly (just until it ceases to be completely crunchy), pan-fry it (3-5 minutes max.), or roast it in the oven. Basically, treat it like a potato (except that Enste is tasty raw in a way that potatoes definitely aren't.)

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Sweet! Very interesting! I would be very interested to try it....but I'm not gonna cut down my EV to do it!!! Maybe eventually I can chop the pseudostem up to promote new plants and eventually eat one of them in a few years. LOL.

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Thanks Lorax. I think now I may plant an Ensete! :2239:

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Yeah, both of you had better be aware that what I eat is MATURE Ensete corms - you have to let the plant bloom out. Otherwise they're not so good for you.

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Like a green potato. Do they change with maturity. I'm not eating one but think it's interesting.

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The starch content goes waaay up during blooming, and the oxalic acid content drops off to less than spinach.

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What about E.glaucum? Is it's corm edible as well?

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I've never tried E. glaucum, only E. ventricosum. I'd suspect it was also edible, though - the same way that all Musas bear fruit that can be eaten.

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Ensete...I wonder which one that is and if we might get some locally...I'll look it up, and if there is a common description...send it on!

We have four big bundles of what is known locally as 'machos' coming on all at once...looks like the donkeys will get a treat soon.

Beth, I saw your sample article on group planting and it os interesting for us here...how large are those circles?...10 meters?

:nanadrink: happy holiday!

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I kind of thought that might be the case just on gut feeling but, didn't really know. Thanks.

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John, yup, about 10 meters at the outer diameter (you're talking about the Coastal method, I assume?)

Bob - your gut tells you what is Truthy, you should trust it!

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For some, our gut is akin to the Oracle....mine is more like a magic 8 ball :2141:

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:ha:! That's the best reason I've heard yet for feeding your gut lots and lots of bananas, Pete.