Sometimes it’s just so frustrating that your green bananas will take forever to turn from green to lustrous yellow or brown.
And when you’re craving for moist banana bread with your husband and three kids, you know that the green bananas are definitely the boundary you shouldn’t cross otherwise everyone in the house will hate your cooking and baking, and so will yourself too.
In instances like this when your family’s banana carving suddenly picks up momentum and goes through the roof, and green banana fruits are the only sight you can catch besides the refrigerator, what can you do with them?
Make them into Fries?
Smoothie?
Dry and grind them, then make into fine flour and bake biscuits?
Well,
You just wait and see, I’ll tell you exactly what to do with those green banana fruits sitting beside the refrigerator, but before that, it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into the very moment you decide it’s green bananas on the menu.
Can you eat raw green banana?
Despite their intimidating appearance, astringent taste, waxy texture and unimpressive composition which greatly contrasts with that of a fully ripened banana fruit, green bananas are perfectly healthy to consume at any given time, according to an article written by expert nutritionist Hrefna Palsdottirb for the Red Ventures platform Healthline.com.
Hrefna Palsdottirb is now a former member of the Healthline nutritional team.
According to the publication, green bananas do not contain any harmful compositions that should be a source for concern when ingested into the body.
Except for people that are allergic to latex who may end up experiencing side effects of the latex fruit syndrome, or a low percentage of sensitive people that may end up experiencing side effects such as bloating, gas and constipation. If you experience these after consuming green bananas, you should stop incorporating them into your diet. No one forced you in the first place!
Rather, green bananas are just as nutritious as their fully ripened counterparts, having all the available micronutrients (minerals and vitamins) as found on a ripened banana, and are only set apart by their funny taste, texture and overall appearance.
Green bananas, according to the article by Healthline.com, contains high amount of starch content than fully ripe bananas which have most of their starch content converted into simple sugar (sucrose, glucose, and fructose) which consequently makes them sweeter.
Green bananas have about 70 to 80% of their dry weight composition as starch, resistant starch to be specific, which acts pretty much like dietary fiber does in the body, whereas ripened bananas have only about 1% of starch content.
It is this high amount of starch content that makes green bananas taste very funky, just as it does to any potato veggie or a root tuber crop.
But the high amount of starch content itself does not pose any risk of harm when consumed, especially when processed and eaten.
Instead, the starch gives the feeling of satiety for a very long while which can be helpful to suppress calorie intake for people locked in on a weight loss regimen.
Additionally, the publication by Healthline states that green bananas also contain pectin which is a type of dietary fiber commonly associated with fruits which helps them retain their structure, and this compound can be very useful in providing a number of health benefits including offering a boost in overall digestive health and improving blood pressure.
Green banana vs yellow banana
The difference between green bananas and yellow bananas really comes down to taste, appearance, and texture. No more, no less.
In terms of nutrition, green bananas are just as nutritious as yellow or black bananas, having their own added benefits such as providing the feeling of satiety for a long time, and helping to improve the overall blood pressure and digestive health.
These are benefits that cannot be reaped with a ripened banana fruit (or may be reaped, but to a very small degree), because they contain lesser amount of pectin and resistant starch which are the chief compounds necessary for reaping such benefits.
But don’t get me wrong, fully ripened bananas also have their unique benefits which a green banana can never beat, and that is taste of ripeness which they offer to the plate which showcases that banana-y flavor most of us crave for.
How can you ripen green bananas quickly?
If you’re only planning on eating your green bananas because you’re impatient to let them ripen naturally.
There’s actually good news for you. You can speed up the ripening process of your green bananas using many of techniques outlined in the article below.
How to eat green bananas
Now that we’re done talking about the safety and nutritional benefits of green bananas and how much they stack against their fully ripened counterparts, it’s time to delve into the real reason why we are here, and that’s how to properly enjoy green bananas.
There are many recipes and variations only on how to do that, and here, we’ve compiled the best of the best to get you started.
Green banana recipes
1) Eat them as they are:
Yes, consume those green buddies just the way they are, or just the way you would conventionally eat a ripened banana.
Green bananas will be very difficult to de-skin so make sure to use a knife for the purpose, and be very careful about that. If you’re a little kid reading this, you should definitely take this line to momma.
Green bananas aren’t the best tasting food items in the world, but there are places and people in the world that have normalized and mastered eating them.
If you’re disgusted by the prospect of eating raw green bananas, just know that half fertilized eggs are consumed in some local cultures across the world as so are raw onions and garlic.
2) Grate them into smoothies or drinks:
The best way to minimize the funky taste of green bananas when eating them is to increase their surface area, or adding them into something, or both, and you can definitely achieve this by grating them into smoothies, into soups, into sauces, into fruit salads, on top of ice cream, porridge, or anything you think should taste great.
You can even slice them round or diagonally and dip them into white or brown chocolate or make them the spread in chocolate toast. The ideas with green bananas are endless.
Remember it’s your kitchen and your food to eat, and no matter what sensible concoction you end up forging, the green bananas in them will definitely not pose any health threat to you! So go out there and experiment, then come back here and inspire us!
3) Boil and serve with sauce
In places where plantains are staple food items, the unripe variants are normally boiled in a solution of brine and then served with piping hot sauce.
But that’s a green plantain you might say? But these two under a “nutritional, structural, and identity microscope” are really nothing different. Both are really one and the same thing, except when it comes to size, in which case the plantain is bigger (or is it not?). The plantain is just another variation of the banana fruit after all!
So whatever you can do with green plantains, you certainly can mimmic them with a green banana fruit!
Check here to see some of the recipe ideas for a green plantain.
4) Fry them just as you would plantains or potatoes
Another way that green bananas love to be treated is by de-skinning them and giving them a hot oil bath.
That soothes them from within and sends the inner demon responsible for their tangy taste and waxy texture to a perish. Take them out from their hot oil bath, and boom, they’ll instantly be sexy, — a complete shadow of their ugly former selves.
Cut green bananas meant to be dipped in the frier anyhow you want them, but the recommended option is diagonally, just as you would a plantain.
This maximizes the surface area and makes cooking them faster while they absorb and retain lesser oil. You can also cut them into stripes if you’ve found the time to do so.
Serve fried bananas with sauces, with egg, with stew or whatever your heart desires.
5) Make green banana sauce
Start by sautéing garlic and oil in a healthy oil over high heat until they brown, then add veggies like tomatoes and taro roots and then add in the banana fruit diced or sliced. Season as you like and add milk or water. Cook until bananas soften and there you go, you’ve successfully made a version of the matoke recipe popular in southwestern Uganda. Search more about it to learn more variations.
6) Make them into smoothie
Yes, incorporate green bananas into your next smoothie mix for an extra dimension in flavor. Make sure when you’re experimenting, it’s for you and you alone, not for the guests or gathering. I don’t want you running into mock stares.
7) Bake them
The simplest way to achieve this is with oil and salt. But if you’re a seasoned baker, you know exactly what to do to make your green bananas go from ugly in their skin to a heavenly treat relaxing in a casserole.
Green banana dessert recipes
Green banana breakfast recipes
