they are tall herbs, really, not trees …
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red.
Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic bananas come from the two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana or hybrids Musa acuminata × balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific names Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca are no longer used.
In popular culture and commerce, “banana” usually refers to soft, sweet “dessert” bananas. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains or “cooking bananas”. The distinction is purely arbitrary and the terms ‘plantain’ and ‘banana’ are sometimes interchangeable depending on their usage.
Perfumed olive oils in original packaging.
Bananas are interesting fruits. Most underrated, and yet create so much conflict in the global trade world. It seems almost ironic when you have a banana tree in your back yard.
I like my bananas, without controversy, and hot, in the shape of a Gugelhupf …. so, I started baking … I use ceramic Gugelhupf pans, they give a slower, more even cooking than the tin or stainless steel ones.
Banana Trees
They are tall herbs, really, not trees,
though they can shoot up thirty feet
if all goes well for them. Cut in cross
section they look like gigantic onions,
multi-layered mysteries with ghostly hearts.
Their leaves are made to be broken by the wind,
if wind there be, but the crosswise tears
they are built to expect do them no harm.
Around the steady staff of the leafstalk
the broken fronds flap in the breeze
like brief forgotten flags, but these
tattered, green, photosynthetic machines
know how to grasp with their broken fingers
the gold coins of light that give open air
its shine. In hot, dry weather the fingers
fold down to touch on each side–
a kind of prayer to clasp what damp they can
against the too much light.
And here you may re-create your own little sweet wonder of the banana:
BANANA BREAD
Ingredients for two small Gugelhupf or one square roasting tray
120g lightly salted butter (softened at room temperature)
200g light brown sugar
100g Maple syrup
1 pc zest one small lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
430g ripe (!) bananas
360g all purpose flour
8g baking powder
150g walnuts
200g fresh, full at yoghurt (at room temperature)
Butter and flour for the baking mold
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C
Place the butter, sugar and Maple syrup in the bowl of your mixer
Run at medium speed until mixed
Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract
Mix until all ingredients are well combined and creamy
Add one egg at the time, and mix until batter becomes smooth before adding the next egg
In the meantime sift the flour, baking powder
Chip the walnuts and add to the flour
Cut the bananas into medium size pieces and add slowly to the butter/egg mixture until well combined
Remove the bowl from your mixer
Add the flour and incorporate with a wooden spoon
Last, add the yoghurt
Melt some butter and brush your baking mold and dust with flour
Place on the lower middle rack in the oven
Bake for about 45 min (check with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked all the way through)