I dont know how to buy one, everytime I buy a "ripe looking" one when I slice it open the meat is so hard. Is it really that way? How can I buy soft ripe plantain bananas?
2006-08-14 16:44:56 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Food & Drink ➔ Cooking & Recipes
Plantain will be hard even when ripe - they do need to be cooked to get soft.
If your plantain skin is green, slice it very, very thinly and fry to make plantain chips. If the plantain skin is yellow, it is actually not yet ripe - if you slice it and fry it it will be softer than the green plantain but not be very sweet. Slice on a diagonal, fry on both sides for a few minutes then place each slice back into the skin and mash it down, then fry it some more. If you don't do this it won't get done all the way through. Wait for the skin to start to turn black for ripe plantains - slice on a diagonal and fry until soft.
2006-08-14 17:09:48 · answer #1 · answered by earth_angelus 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's no such thing as a soft ripe plantain banana. They are a cooking banana, and if they were soft they would be over-ripe and spoiled. And they DO NOT taste good that way!
Look for a nice firm one, just like you have been getting, bake it or slice it and pan fry it. Yummy!
2006-08-14 23:52:47 · answer #2 · answered by old lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pay cash!
A little history: Plantains are bananas that are generally used for cooking, as contrasted with the soft, sweet banana varieties (which are sometimes called dessert bananas). Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than dessert bananas and are commonly used when green or underripe and therefore starchy. Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when unripe. They are grown as far north as Florida, the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Egypt, and southern Japan or Taiwan and as far south as KwaZulu-Natal and southern Brazil. It is assumed that the Portuguese Franciscan monks were responsible for the introduction of plantains to the Caribbean islands and other parts of the Americas. The Spaniards, who saw a similarity to the plane tree that grows in Spain, gave the plantain its Spanish name, platano. It is also commonly known as Ribwort in western herbal medicine.
I suspect if you happen onto some soft plantains, they will be rotten & spoiled.
2006-08-14 23:51:01 · answer #3 · answered by Active Denial System™ 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Plantain gets brown the same way as bananas as they are from the same family. To ripen faster you can put them in a paper bag. You can buy them in most supermarkets now or a Caribean supermarket. You can check websites for recipes and information on plantain.
2006-08-15 00:22:32 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the store or market try to pick one that is soft to the touch and kind of bruised on the out side skin those are usually the ripe and ready for frying or used in blending or baking. The hard ones are for soups or stews.
2006-08-15 00:13:08 · answer #5 · answered by Ms New Booty 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Plantains are supposed to be hard; make sure the outside is very green; the purpose of this is when they're hard, they hold their shape in cooking or deep frying!
2006-08-14 23:50:50 · answer #6 · answered by sweet ivy lyn 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy them hard and plan to use them 2-3 days later.
Store them in brown paper bags on the counter.
I love to slice them up and saute it with honey.
Enjoy!
2006-08-14 23:52:37 · answer #7 · answered by Denise W 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
thats a plaintain the hard one , a banana is the soft one
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/banana/msg0710020423401.html
2006-08-15 00:13:36 · answer #8 · answered by g-day mate 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋