DoctorSteve

I don't know much about cooking bananas and wanted some input. I have really only had one type of cooing banana that I got from a little Latin American market. I did not like them much they seemed dry and mealy. I was wondering what everyone here likes to cook with. OH and I am not talking just about frying or deep frying everything is good like that.

I would really like to know what people prefer in places where it is a staple. They seem like they would know what is good and what isn't. I mean they are eating it everyday.

Rmplmnz

The best as a staple...Fei...not readily available though...

Next Saba..good fried green, boiled green, tostones, pan fried/microwaved ripe...etc.,

Next Hua Moa....Ae Ae is another good one.


Fei:



Hua Moa:
Banana ID



Ae Ae
Recipe: Ae Ae Banana Chips / Ae Ae Plantain Mariquetas Bananenchips

Recipe: Ae Ae Banana Chips / Ae Ae Plantain Mariquetas Bananenchips

sunfish

__________________
TONY OF SAN DIEGO:

DoctorSteve

I have had a saba as a dessert banana but I have not cooked them, they might be better that way. I did not like them ripe.

I have cooked a hua moa, and eaten a hua moa as a dessert. Cooking them was good and eating it as a dessert banana needs some work. I didn't wait long enough to get full flavor. I did get just a hint of good flavor now and then eating it but it was still not ripe enough. I am going to try again but they are not carrying them at the moment.

So when I think of cooking I think of plantain. Now do plantains ripen enough to be eaten fresh? The reason I ask is I though I read somewhere that a hua moa isn't a true plantain. If it doesn't matter then I guess I have eaten two cooking bananas, the hua moa and that nasty plantain.

Oh and if you can tell me where to get a fe'i I would try it in a heart beat.

Rmplmnz

They are awesome out of hand when "fully ripe". Microwave when ripe for about 30 seconds with frozen yogurt..best banana you will ever have.

Hua Moa is the first banana plant I ever purchased (prior 25 or so years I only grew plants passed on from friends)....from Going Bananas in 1993 based on Bill Lessard's wife's recommendation....if I could only grow one banana it would be Hua Moa. You have to let them get good and ripe before you harvest. Whenever I hear that someone does not like Hua Moa..they were picked too green and did not go through sufficient hydrolysis.

You tell me and we both will know. This is a a very rare banana..even in areas that it was formerly grown commercially. The last I knew of someone growing Fei in the continental U.S. was Bill Lessard in 1993 (he listed them in his catalog).

Gabe15

Some things to consider are that the flavor and texture can vary widely within the same cultivar depending on its ripeness and method of cooking. It is best to experiment, even with varieties which are not referred to as cooking bananas, because there is really no inherent difference. Some varieties will have less starch to sugar conversion when ripe, so they can still be firm to some degree if cooked when ripe, as opposed to a very sugary ripe banana which often becomes very soft and falls apart when cooked.

Some oberservation from Uganda where I am currently located studying banana breeding for a few months:

The local bananas are referred to as the East African Highland Bananas in the banana science world (the name of the subgroup) and matooke in Uganda (with the highest production), they are AAA. In Uganda where it is a major staple (up to ~5kg/person/week), they are most commonly peeled when green (with a knife), steamed or boiled, and then mashed and served with some kind of sauce. However they are also commonly sold roasted in the skins. These bananas happen to make great dessert bananas too, but no one here uses them for that. Although its wonderful and interesting to see how people who depend on them use them, don't get stuck on using them in that way only. The preferences are purely cultural, though the actual cultivars may be popular in completely different fashion somewhere else, or may lend themselves well to a method/use that no one commonly practices. Also, people who use them to such an extent tend to be somewhat stubborn in accepting that they may be used in different ways. If you ask a Uganda how to eat matooke bananas, you will never hear that they can be eaten as dessert bananas.

Plantains are around, but not nearly as abundant as matooke. Here they are normally peeled raw when part-green and part-ripe, and then roasted. However, in central and west Africa they are much more abundant and are prepared in many many ways.

A few other cooking bananas are around, most notably a form of 'Silver Bluggoe' known locally as 'Kivuvu'. I have had it when peeled and steamed when unripe, but I know it is used in other ways too.

A good place to start when thinking about how to cook bananas is to imagine they are potatoes (or sweetpotatoes....or really any starchy vegetable), and then try to prepare different varieties in different stages of ripeness to find what you like.

My quick tests for cooking bananas is to take a completely unripe fruit, poke it with a fork and cook it in the microwave for 1-2 min. This can give you some idea about the texture and flavor. If I have a fire going or when at a barbecue, I also will put green fruits on the grill or on some coals to cook, when the skin is all black and it seems soft, it can peeled and eaten.

__________________
The only hemp Im growing is Manila.

Gabe15

I don't have too much experience with them, but with the 3 or so plantain varieties I have eaten raw, ripe, they were fine. Not really comparable to popular dessert bananas, but the flavor and texture are agreeable and they are easy to eat. But I would guess there are at least some varieties which are still astringent when ripe, but I haven't run across them yet (there at least 113 cultivars in Africa alone so I have a long way to go!).

If you make it to the Big Island of Hawaii, at the Hilo farmers market there is a Samoan lady who sells here home grown Fe'i, but that's the only place I have ever seen them sold in the US!

On the subject of Fe'i, the one thing I really like about the ones I've had ('Aiuri), is that even when they are ripe as can be and totally soft, they still cook well. They don't stay firm, they come out like mashed potatoes, but they don't taste or feel like a cooked ripe Cavendish like most other bananas do when cooked ripe, which are sweet and wet kinda. Then again, fe'i taste very unique among bananas, even when ripe, so it's hard to compare them to any others.

__________________
The only hemp Im growing is Manila.

DoctorSteve

I am going to try again. When I was eating it I ran across a few little spots in the banana that had what I called intense banana flavor. I tried them before not as rip and that flavor was nonexistent. So I was thinking this must be the flavor that comes out as it ripens. If I am right I will get a Hua Moa no question about it. One quick question, do they have to be picked at a certain time? We can only get them green, I have just been letting them sit till ripe(well what I thought was ripe).

I had just read about that, I guess they usually serve it with a peanut sauce, so I have read anyway. It sounded great. I want to try it because I have read about a test of introduced bananas in that area to see if they could be used as a substitute for matook. I don't remember the varieties but they did not find the texture suitable. So I was thinking it must have a unique texture that is needed for the dish.

I was thinking that plantains had little or no amylase in the fruit and therefore less sweet when ripe, but I guess there probably isn't really a standard.

Your killin me Gabe! I have to try one. Ever since I read about them in Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, I wanted ot try one. He mentioned how they are not like any other banana, and how good they taste.

Rmplmnz

Appears they never ripened. They may have been refrigerated? Or something else stopped the ripening process....all starch...no banana sweetness from insufficient hydrolysis.

Maya Hawaiian plantains

Hawaiian Plantains

platano hawaiano

Banana ID



You have no idea...lol..

Gabe has experienced Fei in a manner we can only dream of....

Musa 'Aiuri', fe'i banana

fe'i bananas in Manoa Valley

Colored Bananas...

momoese is all over this banana as well!

Rmplmnz

Illustrated guide to the identification of banana varieties in the South Pacific
4 PDF Files

Illustrated guide to the identification of banana varieties in the South Pacific | ACIAR

Page 38 Plate 64
Soa'a