Goin’ Bananas, Again!

CEBU, Philippines — These past weeks I’ve been inundated with bananas. One afternoon, I bought two kilos of cardava bananas at the market because I just missed the taste of boiled ripe bananas. As soon as I had my fill of the cooked fruit, our farm caretaker came with three sacks of freshly harvested bananas – of different kinds!

Our farm caretaker is approaching his 70s, and he chooses to plant the farm with bananas “because it is low maintenance,” according to him. He has various kinds of bananas – latundan, lakatan, bongan, cardava etc. – interspersing with coconut trees on all four borders of the four-hectare lot, while he grows different crops alternately in the main area itself. The number of banana plants in the farm is enough to supply us – our family and the caretaker’s – with bananas all year round.

As it is, bananas from our farm are such a blessing when they come. But when they come in such big volume, like recently, they could be some kind of a problem. Bananas belonging to the same batch tend to ripen all at the same time – and they ripen quite fast.

I’ve already given the neighbors one grocery bag of “lakatan” bananas each. And still there’s a lot of other bananas remaining. It’s really a race against time now.

These past days I’ve been making banana cake, for the family and for close friends. When it gets too tiring baking cakes, I’d take a break and simply go for boiled ripe cardavas for afternoon snacks. But there has got yet another way for saving these fast over-ripening fruits from being thrown away – good heavens, it would be such a waste!

By the way, I’ve tried making banana candy (I’ll share the recipe here sometime). But I do more of a banana bread recipe that I really like, using “bongan,” the kind that remains green even when ripe. The recipe is called “Moist Banana Bread with Raisins,” which, true to its name, really gives moist and yummy banana bread with a few easy steps.

My banana bread tastes great, warm or cold. Since I bake in volume, a good part of the bread produce goes to the fridge. Sometimes we’d also intentionally chill the banana bread for at least two hours before enjoying it – either with a cup of coffee, for adults, or with lemonade, for the kids.

The moist banana bread recipe I use is from the website https://panlasangpinoy.com.  I find it quite simple. But I pay extra attention to the state and amount of banana that I use. I use overripe bananas; they’re more flavorful.

Here’s the recipe:

Moist Banana Bread with Raisins

Ingredients:

2 pcs large ripe bananas or 3 medium bananas, mashed

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup cooking oil

½ teaspoon salt

2 ounces raisins

¾ cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 340?F.

2. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl.

3. Add the bananas and oil. Continue to mix until the ingredients are well blended. Set aside.

4. On a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and raisins. Mix well.

5. Gradually add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. Continue to fold until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

6. Add the vanilla extract. Mix.

7. Grease a loaf pan and then pour the mixture on it.

8. Bake for 50 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

9. Remove from the oven and let it cool down. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

10. Slice the banana bread with raisins and arrange in a serving plate.

Serve. Share and enjoy.

Note: You can use a Pyrex loaf pan, or any regular aluminum or metal loaf pan for baking the banana bread. However, since not all ovens work the same, to check if your Moist Banana Bread with Raisins is done within 45 minutes of baking you may use the toothpick test. Simply stick a piece of toothpick into your banana bread and pull it out completely. If it comes out clean, then you can remove the bread from the oven. Otherwise, continue to bake until the bread is completely done.