How to eat a Banaan

Steps:

1) When shopping for bananas, avoid mistaking them for plantains. A plantain is a fruit that looks somewhat like a banana, but is very firm and starchy like a potato when unripe and mushy and somewhat sweet when it finally ripens. Plantains are not for eating raw but for cooking. (One of the many ways is to fry them.) Commercial plantains are generally larger, firmer, and colored darker and less evenly than bananas.

Normal bananas:


Plantain bananas:


Not all bananas are long and yellow. Some are small, wide, or even different-colored. Red bananas are smaller, softer, and sweeter than common Cavendish bananas, with a slight raspberry flavor. Look for exotic bananas at ethnic grocers from tropical countries. Ask whether they're for eating or cooking, and how to tell when they're ripe. Slight softening is generally a good sign.

2) Check that your banana is ripe Look for a banana that is yellow in color and lightly speckled with small brown or black speckles. Some people prefer the firmer yellow-all-over stage; some prefer the softer, sweeter, stronger-flavored yellow-and-brownish stage. Large brown spots indicate an over-ripe, mushy or even fermented banana. Use it for banana bread. Green bananas usually need more time to ripen. You can ripen raw bananas and other fruits more quickly by keeping them warm and confined together so that the ethylene gas each produces is retained and tells its neighbors to ripen more quickly as well. Don't seal everything tightly: a paper bag is often recommended to retain much of the ethylene but keep water from building up and rotting the fruit.


-If you refrigerate a banana, the outside will quickly turn brown but it will stop ripening and deteriorate much more slowly than it would at room temperature. So refrigerate a banana only when it is about ripe, and eat it within a few days.

refridgeiated banana:


3) Peel the banana. Some people prefer to peel the entire thing and then eat it, while others peel as they go. There's more than one way to skin a banana:

Most people peel from the stem end. Firmly bend the stalk back at the end of the fruit, and pull backwards and down against the fruit. The lengthwise fibers in the rind will hold a strip together to pull off. Pull the rest of the skin off in similar strips (two is common).

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A banana pealed from blossom to end:


One piece banana peal:


4) Remove the "banana strings" as you go. (The fibrous bits that run the length of the banana between the edible part and the peel.)



5) Get rid of the skin. Put it in the trash, use it, or toss it somewhere inconspicuous outdoors to decompose.

a woman throwing the banana peal in the bin:


Someone could slip over your banana peal:


Cow eating banana leafs:







* Bananas go bad if kept out too long. However, if the smooth whiteness is spoiled by a little bad spot, you don't need to throw the banana away -- just carve that nasty bit out with a knife.
* Bloating, stomach upset or gassy sensations after eating a banana can be due to an allergic reaction. Fruit in general causes some gas in the body naturally and is usually harmless. If concerned, talk to a nutritionist, hlistic practitioner or a doctor.
* Bananas emit a enzyme called ethylene which causes fruit and flower ripening. So don't put your bananas next to your flowering plants or cut flowers or they will wilt fast.
* If you eat your bananas fast you might get a stomach ache and throw up.