General Chat

Only a few bananas left, we've eaten so many we look jaundiced :-)

I've made banana cakes, muffins etc, the freeezer is stuffed.

I also dried some. I bought a dehydrater last year, but hadn't used it. Lost count of the number of bananas I sliced up....... took 10 hours to dry them!

The big bunches of bananas (hanging in the garage) were too heavy for me, so I went to the garage with a bowl and cut the bananas off. When OH got home he carried the bunch inside & put it on the sink. No problem............ until the next morning when we found squillions of ants everywhere! OH picked up the bunch, I opened the door........ and an ENORMOUS brown hairy spider appeared on the top of the bunch!!!!!

Where was he when I was cutting off the bananas?

I HATE SPIDERS!!!!!!!

So, there's OH with a half-picked bunch of bananas, a HUGE spider crawling everywhere, me at the door, screaming and jumping about (well, as far as I can with my rotten kneees)......... and OH is yelling "Stop screaming, it's only a bl**dy spider".

Two buckets of water thrown over the bananas....... and we have no idea where the spider went.

Maybe yesterday's water dragon will come back and eat him.

:-D

Yeh, I thought you would find that funny. After the last couple of cool days, we are on the climb up the thermometer again !

20C? hahahahaha That's the temperature we get in winter :-D

We put plastic bags over the bunches when they are still on the tree (mostly to keep the possums off).

We usually only have one bunch at a time hanging in the garage.

They are hanging in the garage, which is probably the coolest place in the house. We don't want the bananas to ripen all at once, so there is no plastic bag over them.

We'll be giving loads of bananas away this week. I have a class on Tuesdays, usually between 10-15 people, so I plan taking a bunch......... and another class on Wednesday, anything between 6-15.

The bananas that were bruised & bashed during the storm have been put to use ~ fed them to the epiphytes.

:-D

How to slow down Ripening of Banana

Home grown bananas are often wasted because all the fingers on a bunch tend to ripen at the same time. Individual hands can be removed from a green bunch and ripened separately so that you can have ripe bananas over a period of time.

Leave the bunch to ripen in a cool, well ventilated place. Leave the plastic bag cover on the bunch, but open the bottom to provide a small amount of ventilation to the fruit. Best results are obtained when temperatures can be maintained at about 20°C.

If temperatures are above 26°C, the fruit will soften and the pulp will ripen while the skin is still pale green. This is a condition known as 'green ripe'. Fruit ripened when day temperatures are around 25°C to 28°C and night temperatures are 17°C to 18°C are usually ready to eat in 2-5 days, depending on the variety. Ripening will take a little longer in cooler temperatures.

DPI.Qld.Gov.

As fruit ripens it gives off a chemical called ethylene, which in turn accelerates ripening. If a banana is separated from the bunch, it doesn't have access to as much of this gas because it is alone, however bananas in a bunch share the ethylene produced by the others in the bunch, thus speeding up the ripening process.

I'm wondering if the dogs next door would be tempted by a bone covered with banana :-D

Or...... the bananas are so hard, they might think I've given them a bone? :-D

About 35 years ago my parents were invited to a neighbours to sample their home made wine....I dont think they remember much about the night :-D except the banana wine tasted like whiskey???

Anyway we had all sorts of wine being made all over the house after that...never did find out whether banana's were a good substitute or not :-)

Yet another way I have used up ripened bananas: peel then wrap them in cling film, pop in freezer for a few days and then you have banana iced lollies for the children, crumptious :-)

Joyce P

when they have ripened off peel ,wrap each one in tinfoil...freeze,use in smoothies or pop on the barbie or batter deep fry and have as a sweet with syrup or icecream or use in baking..

LWS ~ We can't eat the bananas yet, because they are green & hard as rocks.

Our two banana trees lost their tops (we got the tailend of cyclone Oswald), and had to take the bananas off the tree (the possums had already eaten some).

The garage looks like the monkey house at the zoo :-D

Scozz....You are probably sick of the sight of bananas by now!!

I love tossing a few in foil on the bbq still in their skins with a little sugar inside
just before the barbie dies down...Lovely with whipped cream

but with that quantity I would definitely go for the wine option :-D

On the website (from Mr Magoo)

Green Banana Chips:

5 small unripe (green) bananas
oil for frying
salt to taste

Peel the bananas using a knife, as they are not ripe and will not peel like a yellow banana. Slice into chips.
Heat the oil in a heavy deep frying pan over medium-high heat. If you have a deep-fryer, heat the oil to 190 C. Place the banana chips into the hot oil, and fry until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oil, and drain on kitchen roll. Pat off the excess oil, and season with salt. Serve immediately.

If we have green banana chips tonight..........that's 5 gone, 295 to go!!!

:-D

I make banana cake & banana muffins (I think there are 4 cakes in the freezer!).

Banana wine........ it sounds awful..... and I can't have tannin, so that's out. Nowhere around here to get the equipment (unless I get help from the man who makes his own hooch lol) Thanks for the idea. 21 lbs of bananas? Peeled or unpeeled?

Moonbi - thanks for the jolt! I've got a drying thingie stored away somewhere. Must look for it......... and how to dry bananas ~ green or ripe-ish?

btw - do you know that if you peel a banana from the bottom, you don't get the stringy bits?

Mr Magoo ~ I'll also look at your banana recipe site. Any favourites?

I'll get into the garden tomorrow, give the banana trees a good shake, see if any of my rellies fall out :-D

Don't forget they are radioactive.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose

Homemade Banana Wine Recipe

Ingredients:
21 lbs of RIPE bananas, sliced into thin rings
5 gallons water (You won’t use it all)
15-20 lbs white and/or brown sugar (We used white)
6 tsp acid blend
5 tsp pectinase
1.25 tsp wine tannin
6 tsp yeast nutrient
4 lbs golden raisins
1 packets of wine yeast (We like Red Star “Champagne” for this recipe)
Potassium sorbate or other wine stabilizer

Equipment:
7.5 gallon pot (or bigger)
1 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket and lid
1 or 2 6.5 gallon glass carboys & stoppers
1 air lock
Siphon, siphon tubing.

Or a Bunch Of Cocoa nuts :-D

borrow a couple of chimps :-D

I have had a trawl through the recipe sites and it looks like it is bread,cake and cookies all the way for you. Good luck!

There are one or two curry type recipes on the Tesco site.

Any help ?

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/tag-1482/banana-recipes.aspx

Don't dried banana slices look like cat's botties?

scozz
if you can borrow a drying machine you might be able to slice the banana,

to make banana chips