Plantains

Perhaps I shouldn't have started out my enthusiasm-for-food blog with such a negative post about a food I don't like. Let's switch gears, shall we?

I have a new love as of late: plantains. They look like bananas, but are clearly superior. Or maybe just different. Plantains are generally cooked, not eaten raw, like a banana.

Plantains seem to be found in the cooking of tropical regions, and on a recent trip to Hawaii, I was going to make some for my friends. I was confused to find apple bananas, which look like plantains but are clearly not the same.

Research was in order, but who has time for research when you're in Hawaii? I cooked up the apple bananas in the same way I've made plantains before: fried with sour cream on top. They were fine, which is to say that they were less than spectacular. But it's hard to complain when you're eating exotic fruit while sitting on your balcony and looking at the ocean in Maui.

Turns out there are three types of plantains: cooking plantain, banana plantain, bocadillo plantain. And, amazingly, they are considered a starchy vegetable, not a fruit. This is because they are used mostly while still green--once they begin to develop spots and turn yellow, the starch level goes up and wham! It's a fruit. And the "trees" they grow on are actually herb plants, as they do not have trunks like trees do. Plantains are quirky, evidently, which might help explain my love for them. I have a love/hate relationship with bananas, but my feelings for plantains remain pretty constant. However, I seem to have misunderstood them.

Mofongo is a fascinating-looking recipe that I doubt I will attempt at home, but enjoyed watching Anthony Bourdain pursue, anyway. I plan to find it and eat it in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, or any other country I may travel to that makes it.

My affair with plantains has only begun, and I have a lot more research to do. It is used in so many cultures. This will have to be a multi-part entry.