Produce Briefs...
White Corn
White corn is a sweet corn variety. Its ears are wrapped in tightly layered pale lime green to white husks. One ear of corn can contain up to 400 kernels growing in rows lengthwise.
Spring Onions
Spring onions are most often utilized raw. The whole onion can be flash blanched and grilled, which brings out more the robust and sweet elements of the onions, and makes them a bolder pair for fish and meats
Seasons/Availability
Banana flowers make sporadic appearances with a peak season in late fall and early winter.
Description/Taste
Exotic banana flowers are the red-orange to deep purple, pointed, compact heads at the tip end of a forming bunch of bananas. Each bud has large outer petals that protect groups of small white flowers, offer their own distinct flavor-- starchy and slightly biter.
Applications
Like artichokes and apples, banana flowers color quickly when cut and exposed to oxygen. Keep a bowl of water, with lemon juice, nearby and place cut sections of the bud immediately in the bowl to prevent browning.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
In Thailand banana flower is almost always served raw on the side with pad thai.
Geography/History
Members of the genus Musa, only flowers from cooking varieties are usually eaten as the flowers from eating bananas have a bitter taste. In Southeast Asian countries, the banana flower, is also called the banana heart. Used as a garnish and as a vegetable, the flowers are added to curry dishes and cooked in coconut milk. In Indonesian cuisine, banana flowers are mixed with pork and a hot sambal, cooked in a section of bamboo and served at their festivals or wakes.
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Banana Flowers. One
is easiest, three is harder.| My Cooking Experiments |
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Banana Flower Vegetable |
| Ma Recipes |
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Banana Flower/Blossom Stir Fry |
Recently Spotted
People have spotted Banana Flowers using the Specialty Produce app for iPhone and Android.
Produce Spotting allows you to share your produce discoveries with your neighbors and the world! Is your market carrying green dragon apples? Is a chef doing things with shaved fennel that are out of this world? Pinpoint your location annonymously through the Specialty Produce App and let others know about unique flavors that are around them.
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Witch's Rock Surf Camp Guanacaste, Costa Rica About 11 days ago Spotter's comments : Banana flowers growing on a tree right outside my room! World Foods Supermarket Near Lemon Grove, California, United States About 75 days ago |
