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| Be afraid. Be very afraid. |
I strongly identified with a recent article in The Onion:
NEW YORK—Sources at Key Food supermarket confirmed that a sad man tore two bananas from a bunch of seven while shopping alone in the store’s produce section Wednesday. “This ought to do it,” the lonely individual reportedly thought to himself as he placed the fruit in his shopping basket alongside a single pint of milk, which sources confirmed would likely go bad before it was finished. “I’ll probably have one banana today, maybe the other tomorrow or the day after, so—yeah.” According to reports, the five bananas remaining in the bunch were purchased by a smiling, cheerful man, who brought them back to a home full of people who love him very much.
The Bananas of My Youth
I've always had an aversion to brown spots on bananas, but it was exacerbated by my mother. Sometimes for breakfast she would slice an overripe banana into a small bowl, pour in some milk, and sprinkle a little sugar on top. As if this would make it palatable.
On the other hand, bananas were a saving grace during 5th grade. My class must have been especially bad because almost every day that school year we had to sit in alphabetical order at lunch. That was a mixed bag; I got to sit next to my best friend Madeleine, but we had to sit across from two boys with cooties, Wesley and Eric. It was especially a bummer when we had silent lunch, which seemed to be more often than not. On days that we got bananas , it was easy to entertain ourselves during silent lunch. We would cut a slit into a banana like a mouth and make it drink milk with a straw and then burp. Hilarious.
Bananas in My Riper Years
In 2010 Robert and I did a wonderful cycling trip in Oregon that went from Ashland to Bend via Crater Lake. On the day before we flew home, we went to a fair that was in Bend. Chiquita bananas sponsored one of the booths, and we had a phenomenal photo op:
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| Top Banana and sidekick |
On a more somber note, I've written about my serious crash in a bicycle race in 2012. I broke my upper jaw, messed up my upper teeth, and got a huge gash in my chin. My doctors did an excellent job of putting me back together (and all the wonderful prayers and other support from my friends had a lot to do with it, too), but it was seven months after my crash before I could bite again. I never realized how much I took such a simple thing for granted. During the time I was healing, I could eat most things as long as I cut them up and put them in the back of my mouth to chew. This is how I had to eat even sandwiches. Sometimes I got funny looks. But at last I had my final dental treatment. My dentist told me to give it a few days for everything to settle, and then I could bite whatever I wanted, except apples and corn on the cob. (Although I'll never be able to bite into those two things again, I can still eat apples cut up and corn cut off the cob - not a huge sacrifice, all things considered.) The first thing I bit into post-crash was a banana:
A Bunch of Recipes
Once bananas get too ripe, they must be banished to the freezer to be used in banana bread or smoothies. Even then, I've found that they need sufficient other ingredients to mask the overripe banana taste. Thus, many plain banana bread recipes don't really float my boat. I have found a couple that I do like, though. One is Banana Blueberry Banana Pecan Nut Cake, a recipe from the famous Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, about 30 miles north of my home in Monticello.
Blueberry Banana Pecan Nut Cake
2 sticks butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1-1/4 cups ripe mashed bananas (2 or 3)
1 16-oz carton sour cream
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x5x2-inch loaf pans; set aside. Rinse and drain fresh blueberries. If using frozen berries, dust with a small amount of flour.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add bananas and sour cream. Mix well. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Fold blueberries and pecans into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.
Yield: 2 loaves
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Another variation on banana bread that I enjoy immensely is from the Bats in the Pantry cookbook, which features recipes with ingredients that rely on bats for pollination or seed dispersal:
Banana Ginger Bread
2 cups brown sugar
*1 cup mashed bananas
2 eggs
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*2 tablespoons vegetable oil (optional)
*3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
*½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
*½ teaspoon ground cloves
*2 cups dark beer
*2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
*2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9” x 5” loaf pans. In a bowl, cream the brown sugar, bananas, eggs, and vanilla. (Add oil if moister bread is desired.) In another bowl, combine 3 cups flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, and cloves. Combine the mixtures from the two bowls; mix in beer. Toss dates with remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Stir dates and ginger into mixture. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour, or until inserted toothpick emerges dry and clean.
*This ingredient is made possible by bats!
A delicious and nutritious way to use overripe bananas that have been banished to the freezer is to make a healthy breakfast smoothie:
Banana-Fudge Smoothie
1/2 cup soft silken tofu
2 ripe medium bananas, frozen and cut in 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sorghum syrup or dark honey
Combine ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
Yield: 2 servings
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Banana Pudding Festival and Puddin' Pedal
Despite my slippery relationship with bananas, I was all over the opportunity to go to the State Banana Pudding Festival in Irwinton and ride in the Puddin' Pedal today. The Puddin' Pedal is about 18 miles long and has a stop for banana pudding halfway through. My cycling friend Benny in Milledgeville alerted me to this fabulous celebration.
Because I wanted to ride farther, I started my ride from Gray. From Gray to Irwinton and back, plus the Puddin' Pedal, it was about 75 miles. I just didn't see any need to ride 125 miles, which is what the total distance would have been if I had ridden from my house.
As I approached Irwinton, I passed some of the walkers who were finishing up the 5K. One boy heard me approaching and stared at me as I rode by. I called out to him, "Nanner, nanner, nanner!"
I caught up to Benny and some other cyclists from Milledgeville at the Puddin' Pedal rest stop in Toomsboro. Banana pudding is an excellent thing to serve at a rest stop.
Then we headed back to Irwinton.
Back at the Blue Goose in Irwinton, the site of the State Banana Pudding Festival, I was glad to see my friends Katherine and David. Additionally, they assisted me with the photo op. One of my life rules is never to pass up a photo op where you stick your face into something, especially when it's so delightfully cannibalistic:
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The spoons totally make this photo op.
Then it was time for the highlight of the State Banana Pudding Festival - the Puddin' Path!
For $5 I got to sample banana puddings made by seven local nonprofit groups. I received a spoon, a napkin, a voting ticket, and a save-the-date card for next year's State Banana Pudding Festival. After sampling all the banana puddings, I got to vote for my favorite. The voting cans were recycled Jittery Joe's coffee cans - excellent!
The sampling setup was just right. I got a small cup of banana pudding at each table. By the end, I had had gracious plenty. The various banana puddings were delicious. There was a chocolate banana pudding - quite tasty, but at least for this event, I was anticipating straight-up banana. One banana pudding kind of scared me. It didn't have any vanilla wafers or anything else solid. In fact, I assume that the recipe bombed because it was all liquid - more like banana pudding soup. Another group had an interesting variation that was like a banana split, containing flecks of chocolate, pineapple, and maraschino cherries in addition to bananas. The other banana puddings mostly went heavy on the whipped cream. I discovered that banana puddings typically are either whipped-creamy or have a meringue on top. I'm partial to meringue, which is how my grandmother made it. In fact, my vote for the best banana pudding went to the one that was most like hers:
Here's Grannie's recipe:
Banana Pudding
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2-1/3 cups milk
2 egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
7-1/2 tablespoons sugar
Vanilla wafers
4 ripe bananas, sliced
Mix 3/4 cup sugar and flour in pan to be used for cooking. Add milk gradually to avoid lumping. Add egg yolks that have been beaten well. Cook over medium heat while stirring frequently to avoid sticking. When mixture thickens well, remove from heat and add vanilla.
Beat egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form. Add 7-1/2 tablespoons sugar gradually and beat until stiff and glossy.
In a 9" x 13" Pyrex dish, layer vanilla wafers, then bananas, then filling, then meringue. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or at 425 degrees for 5 or 6 minutes.
Interestingly, Grannie's banana pudding recipe and her coconut cream pie recipe are quite similar. You go with bananas or coconut, depending on the desired end product. I like her coconut cream pie even better than her banana pudding. In fact, coconut cream pie is one of my favorite desserts, period. I would have done well on Gilligan's Island.
Coconut Cream Pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coconut
5 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
7-1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 pre-baked pie crust (homemade, if possible)
Mix 3/4 cup sugar and flour in pan to be used for cooking. Add milk gradually to avoid lumping. Add egg yolks that have been beaten well. Cook over medium heat while stirring frequently to avoid sticking. When mixture thickens well, remove from heat, add vanilla, then coconut. Pour into pre-baked pie crust. Let cool.
Beat egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form. Add 7-1/2 tablespoons sugar gradually and beat until stiff and glossy. Lightly pile on cooled pie, making sure it touches all edges of pastry, and sprinkle with coconut. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or at 425 degrees for 5 or 6 minutes.
If only there were a State Coconut Cream Pie Festival!
After I traveled down the Puddin' Path, I decided to go down the street to Maebob's for some fried chicken. I rarely eat fried chicken and never make it at home because I can't make it anything like an institution like Maebob's does. So I had to get while the getting was good. It was mighty fine.
Full of banana pudding and Maebob's chicken, I headed home in a Southern fried stupor. There's no way I could indulge like this very often, but it sure is good every once in a while.
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