Banana Food and cooking

See also: Cooking plantain and List of banana dishes

Fruit

Bananas are a staple starch for many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar
and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from
firm to mushy. Both the skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. The primary
component of the aroma of fresh bananas is isoamyl acetate (also known as banana
oil), which, along with several other compounds such as butyl acetate and isobutyl
acetate, is a significant contributor to banana flavor.[95][96][97]

During the ripening process, bananas produce the gas ethylene, which acts as a
plant hormone and indirectly affects the flavor. Among other things, ethylene
stimulates the formation of amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar,
influencing the taste of bananas. The greener, less ripe bananas contain higher
levels of starch and, consequently, have a "starchier" taste. On the other hand,
yellow bananas taste sweeter due to higher sugar concentrations. Furthermore,
ethylene signals the production of pectinase, an enzyme which breaks down the
pectin between the cells of the banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens.
[98][99]

Bananas are eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in
glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Bananas can be made into jam. Banana
pancakes are popular amongst backpackers and other travelers in South Asia and
Southeast Asia. This has elicited the expression Banana Pancake Trail for those
places in Asia that cater to this group of travelers. Banana chips are a snack
produced from sliced dehydrated or fried banana or plantain, which have a dark
brown color and an intense banana taste. Dried bananas are also ground to make
banana flour. Extracting juice is difficult, because when a banana is compressed,
it simply turns to pulp. Bananas feature prominently in Philippine cuisine, being
part of traditional dishes and desserts like maruya, turón, and halo-halo or saba
con yelo. Most of these dishes use the Saba or Cardaba banana cultivar. Bananas are
also commonly used in cuisine in the South-Indian state of Kerala, where they are
steamed (puzhungiyathu), made into curries,[100] fried into chips, (upperi)[101] or
fried in batter (pazhampori).[102] Pisang goreng, bananas fried with batter similar
to the Filipino maruya or Kerala pazhampori, is a popular dessert in Malaysia,
Singapore, and Indonesia. A similar dish is known in the United Kingdom and United
States as banana fritters.

Plantains are used in various stews and curries or cooked, baked or mashed in much
the same way as potatoes, such as the pazham pachadi dish prepared in Kerala.[100]