Bananas on the Brain

Bananas are an interesting topic as they are definitely not all created equal and if you ask anyone who eats bananas, they will likely each have a personal preference for the type of banana they like best. I recently felt as though I was in Jack Johnson’s song “Banana Pancakes” as I ate banana and walnut waffles on the deck of my friend’s father’s house in Atlanta. My friend’s dad pulled a frozen banana from the freezer and stuck it in the microwave, peel on and all. It created a lovely aroma that reminded me of bananas foster.

Once the banana was defrosted it slipped nicely out of its peel and into a yummy batter for our waffles. This whole episode of course launched a banana conversation. I’ve never frozen my bananas peel on or defrosted them in the microwave, but it seemed to make perfect sense. Typically once my bananas are too ripe to eat, I peel and slice them and save them in tupperware containers to later make banana bread.

As an aside, here’s my favorite banana bread recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (use a potato masher, it’s super easy)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. (I like to sprinkle a cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the mix just before it goes in the oven.)
   
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. (I usually only cook for 50 minutes as I like the insides to be a little softer.) Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Bananas for the Week

I usually do my grocery shopping on Sundays but I find no matter what day of the week I shop, buying bananas is always a process. Buying apples is easy; you just pick out how many you want and make sure there are no worm holes and in the cart they go. But bananas are different. If you buy a bunch that are all yellow from the get-go, you’re screwing yourself out of at least one day of having an edible banana. If you buy a bunch that is all green to start with, you have to wait to eat the first banana. In addition to the color variety, banana bunches could have anywhere from 4 to 8 bananas in them; very few bunches have a perfect 7 in them for the week. You either have to buy too few or too many. And then there is the person who chose to rip one lone banana from its bunch and leave it abandoned in produce where it may or may not ever get eaten.  I really think there is strategy involved in buying bananas.

Once the bananas are home, personal preference kicks in. Recently I decided to start eating more bananas for the potassium they offer and for their ability to help control muscle tightness, something I experience often as a result of running and my lack of flexibility. Eating a banana a day is usually my goal which means I’m likely to have brought home the largest bunch of bananas with the greatest range of green to yellow. Eating the bananas in the proper order, I do believe, also requires a strategy. While I am capable of getting down a green banana despite the difficulty in peeling it, I prefer a bright yellow banana to start. However, with a large bunch, it’s smart to eat the most ripe banana first while the others ripen.

Everyone is different though. I have a friend who tosses her bananas (not quite like tossing cookies) once the last shade of green is gone from them. Other folks I know prefer their nanners to be softer and will wait until the first brown speckles to come before eating. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m willing to eat bananas at every stage of ripeness just for the potassium kick, but if I had my druthers, they’d be getting peeled and frozen at the brown speckle stage. What about you?