Saturday, February 23, 2008

Banana, The wonder food!



It's time for me to get back to that "perpetual diet" I like to remember I'm on from time to time. That being said, let's talk about a miracle food: Bananas!

At this moment there are five different types of bananas common on the market:
Red bananas: have a green/red peel and pink fruit flesh. They taste the same like yellow bananas. The redder a fruit, the more carotene it contains, so maybe they are healthier than their yellow colleagues;
Fruit-bananas: are the normal, yellow bananas, 15-30 cm.
Apple-bananas: are smaller, 8-10 cm., and ripen faster. They are also yellow;
The baby-banana (pisang susa): is yellow as well and measures 6-8 cm. It is the sweetest of the banana family;
Baking bananas: are 30 to 40 cm. large and are green, yellow or red-like. They cannot be eaten raw. They fulfill the role of the potato in the tropical countries.
Aside from there being lots of types of bananas to chose from , there are many wonderful nutritional benefits to eating them: they prevent cancer (http://www.nrjournal.com/article/S0271-5317(03)00090-3/abstract) , they are very close to a completely balanced meal all in one, and they are full of vitamins that help us in many ways!

So... if you are bored and want to bake, as I am RIGHT NOW, try cutting up a banana in fun shapes and then eating it. Maybe we can all get healthier together? Who knows? Or... we could bake banana bread :).

Banana Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

No comments: