Ingredient
Banana
One of the few fruits that ripens properly after picking, and keeps going relentlessly. For baking you want them well past the point you would eat them — black-skinned bananas are sweeter and mash to a smooth puree.
- Sourcing
- Buy at the ripeness you need in two days, not the ripeness you want now. Supermarkets sell overripe bananas cheaply, which is the baker's bargain.
- Varieties
- Cavendish, Plantain, Lady Finger, Red banana
- Quality cues
- For eating, yellow with a few freckles. For baking, the blacker the better as long as the fruit inside is not fermented or leaking.
- Substitutions
- Plantain (for cooking), Apple sauce (in baking)
- Storage
- Room temperature, away from other fruit. The fridge blackens the skin but holds the flesh, which is a fair trade once ripe. Freeze peeled for baking and smoothies.
- Shelf life
- 2-7 days depending on ripeness at purchase; months frozen
Nutrition
Per 100 g
- Calories
- 89 kcal
- Protein
- 1.1 g
- Fat
- 0.3 g
- Carbs
- 22.8 g
- Fibre
- 2.6 g
- Sugars
- 12.2 g
- Sodium
- 1 mg
From USDA FoodData Central (#173944). Raw, edible portion.