Yes, We Have No Bananas

Last week’s topic spurred some monkey business. I won’t pass along the childish or illegal ideas sent to me via a wide range of channels, but suffice it to say, I won’t be publishing those suggestions here. I don’t want to be accused of influencing minors.

Despite Sara’s moratorium on banana bread or muffins, I was surprised and impressed with the wide range of ideas for over-ripe bananas. Quite impressed. So impressed, have a banana on me. Please. Take two. Really, I don’t mind.

I’m still giving the composter two frantic, air-clearing thumbs up. And judging by the feedback outside this blog’s comment section, I’m not the only one to feel that way. But that isn’t the point of this post, so here are recommendations for people who like bananas. For those who don’t, may I recommend a comforting baked apple or chocolate-dipped stawberry?

• Elizabeth Kricfalusi points out that what you can do depends on just how over-ripe the bananas are — your choices growing more limited as the bananas slide irrevocably towards decomposition. She wins top billing for finding a movie quote that sums up the narrow window of opportunity between a banana that’s edible and one that’s mush. From the quirky Aussie flick Hotel de Love…

I don’t get bananas. They’re green for about two weeks, then they’re ripe for about 12 minutes, then they turn brown and mushy forever. Sometimes I can’t even go out because my bananas are about to turn ripe and I don’t want to miss it.

• To halt the decomposition process at a reasonable stage, several people suggested tossing the fruit in the freezer in a ziploc bag. I’d have said the garbage, but I was outvoted.
• Monica Bhide, a brilliant food writer and cookbook author, suggested milkshakes. This was enthusiastically endorsed by others. And really, what fruit doesn’t benefit from a bit of ice cream?
• Smoothies were also a popular, albeit healthier, alternative. Cheryl Sternman Rule recommends a combination of banana yogurt, frozen bananas, frozen black cherries, and skim milk.
• Dana McCauley, brushed off her English degree and played with semantics. Technically, brownies aren’t bread or muffins. She proposed sneaking the bananas into this hard-to-categorize dessert. Even I could live with this idea. Dana, if you have the recipe…
• Mina also uses chocolate, but hers is a dairy-free version. She mashes them in a bowl with a bit of soymilk, a dash of cocoa powder, and then puts them in the freezer for a treat later.
• Puglette pointed banana lovers to an Alton Brown recipe for Banana Ice Cream.
• Lauren touched on old combinations — mashed into oatmeal or cereal, with peanut butter on toast, on the griddle as pancakes or in crepes.

And that is what you can do with over-ripe bananas — on this blog anyway.

Photo © furryscalyman. Published under a Creative Commons License.