What to do with green, hard as a rock, splitting bananas?

Cut the peel off and cook them!

All bananas, including plantains, can be eaten green. They just need to be cooked. Think of them as a potato and lots of recipes will come to mind. Green bananas are a source of fiber, vitamins A, C, B-6, magnesium, and potassium. 

Keeper recipe #1: Roast then mash. Serve with butter and salt. Roast sweet potatoes and squash with them then mash together to make a lovely color.

Keeper recipe #2: Place in a crock pot, toss with olive oil, add some garlic, and cook until tender. Mash, add butter and salt and OH MY. Browns/greens a bit when cooked this way but WOW is it tasty. 

 

I love Irish potatoes and now I have a replacement! Irish potatoes are very difficult for a home gardener to grow here in SW Florida. Summer and Fall it rains too much. Winter and spring, the fire ants attack them. 

I had given up. 

Boiled, green bananas taste like mashed potatoes!

Recipe: Trim bad spots and both ends off of green bananas. Boil in water until a fork passes through with ease. Drain*. Remove peel. Mash. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste. 

*My beloved asparagus pot with a lift out basket was used to cook these. As part of downsizing our cooking pots, this is now my smaller version of a pasta pot and easier for me to lift and drain.

 

Bananas are arriving! Almost one year from planting in a brand new garden. 

Left: dwarf orinoco. Center: dwarf cavendish. Right: raja puri.
Penny is for scale. 

All have different tastes. No favorites yet, we enjoy them all.

 

And here it is: green banana "potato" salad. This is WONDERFUL, but then I love potato salad.  

Green Banana "potato" Salad Recipe

Cook green bananas: trim off ends, place in pot of water, bring just to a boil, check that a fork passes through the banana, then drain and pour tap cold water over to cool down.

Remove green peels. Half bananas then cut into chunks. 

Mix your favorite mayonnaise with a dab of your favorite wet mustard, your favorite vinegar, add some dry or fresh minced onion, salt, and some celery seeds. 

Mix together and enjoy warm or refrigerated.