What is this vegetable?!
What is this vegetable?
I saw a cooking programme a while ago, and the chef used this bizarre vegetable which looked really intertesting.
It look exactly like a banana, aside from it was much longer and less curved. The difference was this version is a vegetable not a fruit - it was something to do with the starch not converting to sugar, so it could be used to cook meals with - apparently it was quite savoury?
I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but it looked interesting and I'd like to have a bash at using it - I think it's suited to more Carribean dishs, but I could be wrong.
If anyone knows the name of it I'd be in love with you.
Answers:
The plantain (pronounced [?pl?nte?n] or [?pl?nt?n]) is a species of the genus Musa and is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana (which is sometimes called the dessert banana). The population of North America was first introduced to the banana plantain, and colloquially in the United States and Europe the term "banana" refers to that variety. The word "banana" is often used incorrectly to describe other plantain varieties as well, when in fact the generic name is "plantain" and the specific varieties are cooking plantain, banana plantain, bocadillo plantain (the little one), etc. All members of the genus Musa are indigenous to the tropical region of Southeast Asia, including the Malay Archipelago and northern Australia.
Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than dessert bananas and are used either when green or underripe (and therefore starchy) or overripe (and therefore sweet). Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when unripe. They are grown as far north as Florida, the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Egypt, and southern Japan or Taiwan and as far south as KwaZulu-Natal and southern Brazil. The largest exporter of plantains to the United States is Colombia. It is assumed that the Portuguese Franciscan friars were responsible for the introduction of plantains to the Caribbean islands and other parts of the Americas. The Spaniards, who saw a similarity to the plane tree that grows in Spain, gave the plantain its Spanish name, plátano.
I guess you're in love with me then friend for the correct answer.