Fermented bananas or plantains?
Dan
thinking about making a wannabe-yogurt by mashing and adding yogurt
whey then letting them ferment. Should I cook them first? Also, can
you slice up starchy plantains or unripe bananas and make pickles with
them? In other words slice the raw green plantains/bananas, brine
them, then allow to pickle. Slice with the peel still on and pickle
that way to hold together better? I have some banana trees likely to
bear fruit this year and I am hoping for a bumper crop so if anyone
has tried this please let me know. Bananas are okay fresh, frozen, or
dried but I would like another method of using them.
Ross McKay
>Can I ferment bananas into something other than banana wine?
I've only heard of banana wine and banana beer. Apparently, banana beer
made from bananas and sorghum is quote popular in eastern Africa. (I
took a peek in a book before responding - only found the beer)
However, I don't see why it can't be lacto-fermented in some way. Worth
a try, I say - let us know how it works out :)
>I was thinking about making a wannabe-yogurt by mashing and adding yogurt
>whey then letting them ferment. Should I cook them first?
For wine and beer, they are just mashed up raw, with water and starches
/ sugars, and a fermentation starter of some sort - yeast for banana
wine, and grains and grass for the African banana beers (i.e. a wild
ferment)
I'd imagine that you'd want to add something else...
>Also, can
>you slice up starchy plantains or unripe bananas and make pickles with
>them? In other words slice the raw green plantains/bananas, brine
>them, then allow to pickle.
Hmm, that's sounds fun. Toss in a few chopped chilis and some spice or
other... could be really nice with a curry! But... maybe you could check
to see what traditional recipes there are out there already for bananas,
as this could be indicative of what they are suitable for. e.g. are
there any Indian banana pickles?
(My only recollection of banana in Indian cuisine is fresh banana,
sliced and coated with desiccated coconut as a side dish to curry; a
number of cultures slice and dry excess bananas for later use)
>Slice with the peel still on and pickle that way to hold together better?
I don't know about that - even when bananas are kept in the skin for
freezing, the skins are discarded afterwards when defrosted and used in
cooking. I'd google for some information on that before eating the
skins.
>I have some banana trees likely to
>bear fruit this year and I am hoping for a bumper crop so if anyone
>has tried this please let me know. Bananas are okay fresh, frozen, or
>dried but I would like another method of using them.
Banana bread? Banana cake? Slather a banana in peanut butter, slop on
some chili sauce and wrap in a dosa or tortilla? Barbecue next to a
couple of lamb chops, sliced eggplant, roast capsicum? (I can vouch for
all of these as being very tasty!)
I wonder how they'd go in a fruit kimchi, a la Wild Fermentation? (Don't
add onion or garlic - the onion ruined mine, IMHO)
--
Ross McKay, Toronto, NSW Australia
"Let the laddie play wi the knife - he'll learn"
- The Wee Book of Calvin