Guest Post: Julianna Boils Green Banana

Check out these green bananas (or, green fig, as they are called here).

You can't mess around with the greenness.

If they aren't definitively green, they might end up tasting like you've boiled a banana with your potatoes and no one needs that.

So, green bananas taste kind of like a potato in that they are sort of generically starchy, much like makabou chips. They can be put in soups in place of or in addition to potatoes, carrots and other "ground provisions", used in what is essentially Caribbean potato salad (Green Fig Salad) or just boiled and salted and buttered like a potato. Judging only by the taste, if you didn't see that it looked like a banana, you wouldn't know it was one by flavor or texture. It does take a minute to get over the look of butter dripping from a banana though. Or finding banana chunks in your soup.

I'm not sure if you can boil makabou, I would imagine so. You can fry green banana chips like you can plantains or makabou. For instructions on how to fry green bananas, replace the word "boil" with "fry" as you read the instructions further in this post. Or, a better idea would be to check out frying makabou chips and replace "makabou" with "plantain" or "green banana".

Cultural lesson: St. Lucians think we are silly for only eating yellow bananas and being largely ignorant of green ones. Green bananas are a staple here. They are cheap, too. A bunch of 6 (which is a hilariously small amount to buy here, according to the vegetable market vendors) is between 1 and 2 EC (Eastern Caribbean Dollars) which is between $0.40-.80 USD. Yellow bananas are uncommon and more expensive and one has to deliberately seek them out. As of yet, we've only found them in the groceries rather than in any of the numerous vegetable and fruit stands. That being said, many bakeries have banana bread (yum!). Interesting, no?

Nutritional facts about green bananas: They contain something (fatty acid chain something) that allows for better absorption of other nutrients. And potassium of course. About 15% of your daily potassium needs are met with one boiled green banana as well as about 3.5g fiber and a respectable amount of B6 (source: Googled "Green banana nutrition"). Coconuts, though, have about double the potassium of a banana. (An epic guest post all about coconuts is in the works.)


On to actually boiling the bananas:
In order to boil the green bananas you'll need a decent knife, cutting board, a fork and a pot of water. First, start some water on the stove for boiling. Enough to cover the peeled bananas by an inch or two. (By the time the bananas are peeled it should be at/near a rolling boil.) Next cut off each end of the banana and cut a slit down the length of the banana for ease of peeling with your fingers and thumbs.

Oh, also, be prepared for what's called banana latex.

Shiny stuff is banana latex. Sticky!

It exudes from the green banana when you cut it and it gets everywhere. It's sticky, can stain your shirt (even though it's clear- weird, right?) or cutting board and is a total bear to clean. So, be prepared to wash your hands and knife quickly and with some frequency, as the sooner the latex gets washed off, the easier it is to remove.

Peel each banana, just like you would a makabou or plantain.

Now, for no reason at all I cut mine in half.

Senseless chopping.

It's just become habit. If there is a culinary benefit to doing it, I can't tell you what it is.

As you can see from the immense pressure my thumb is putting on this raw green banana, it is quite firm.

Firm like raw potato.

The bananas should get boiled for about 10 minutes (+/- some minutes) until a fork can stab them pretty easily. I like mine cooked enough that they can get stabbed by the fork with ease, but they hang on to the fork easily enough that they can be served out of the boiling water without the painful burns that come from an overcooked banana slipping off a fork and spattering back into boiling water.

Fork firm = Spatter free serving.

They can be cooked until they are so soft they fall right off the fork. That's just gross. Don't do that. I mean, I suppose if that's how you like your green bananas (or potatoes) go right ahead. I said it was gross, not wrong.

The final product, complete with butter and salt:

Ta Da!

Looks a little funny, right? I'm telling you though, it's delicious.

Also, since green bananas have a generically starchy flavor, they are fairly bland. I'm a girl of simple taste, so butter and salt are sufficient. I'm made to understand that most folks like some zest. Feel free to add a favorite hot sauce or condiment to your bananas! You could probably even melt cheese over them, but I'm lactose intolerant, so I won't. If you do, let me know how it is!