May 05, 2009

The Banana Paradoxon

I have an obscure but fairly distinct dislike of ripe bananas. I think I always have had it. The smell alone turns my stomach upside down - to be honest we're talking about near disgust here.

Which is weird.
Because generally, I have nothing against bananas. Sure, I don't eat them all the time and they're definitely not my favourite fruit, but I do enjoy the occasional non-ripe banana. Yes, not ripe. In fact, the greener the better. I think maybe someone some time might have told me that eating green bananas isn't healthy. I might be mistaken in that memory but in any way: I still like my bananas unripe.

Should I decide to by some I can be found roaming the fruit section of the supermarket on my quest to find the perfect green banana. Finn is usually the person behind me saying - with a slightly desperate tinge to her voice: "Honey, I'm pretty certain you won't find a banana in the world greener than that", pointing to the thing under the scrutiny of my probing hands and eyes. She seems to be of the opinion that I'd have to eat a banana still attached to a tree to be content with its ripeness.

However, in a daring attempt to rid our kitchen of those three ugly brown fruit items that have been lying in the fruit basket for oh-too-long I now have a batch of banana/peanut butter cookies in the oven.

I withstood the pungent smell and taste, managing to keep the gagging down to a minimum. Now I am praying the taste of ripeness will be lost in the heat or the other ingredients will overpower it. I'm certainly willing to give them a chance, after all there's chocolate chips in them. And if I don't like - Finn will surely be grateful for an abundance of cookies. She's a lot less picky where I am going bananas...

Edit: recipe link.

7 comments:

G (aka LG) said...

That's so funny. I do NOT like bananas past a certain point, which is basically when they're green. Ew, I see people eat them when they're yellow and spotted, and it makes my stomach churn. Those bananas should have died a happy death in a loaf of banana bread - or cookies! - by then.

mccutcheon said...

I like how we think alike a lot of the time :)

btw the cookies are actually not bad. again, won't end up in my cookie jar all the time (yeah, like I really have one of those old-fashioned jars), but it really works to use up those ripe bananas. I'll edit in the link to the recipe above.

Rebecca said...

I like mine half green, half yellow. By the time they have any brown speckles, it's just too late - save yourself!

HOWEVER.

Ripe bananas are the best for baking - the riper the better. If I have bananas that are too far gone, I just peel them and freeze them until I want to make banana bread.

mccutcheon said...

freezing! now that's a great idea. because my problem with banana bread usually is that I don't want it when I have ripe bananas lying around. Because seeing and smelling ripe bananas does not make me want to eat things with them in it - duh.

I'll try freezing them next time. thanks for the tip.

Rebecca said...

Yep - just make sure to peel them first. Otherwise, DISASTER.

Shazza said...

It's funny because M likes her bananas on the greener side and I like them when they are "flecked with brown and have a golden hue, bananas taste the best and are the best for you!" (Chiquita banana song)

Hope the cookies came out well!

AliBlahBlah said...

Ripe bananas make me gag, I always thought I was alone! Thanks to this post and your other commenters I now know I'm not insane!

I also prefer them on the greener side and could quite honestly do without them entirely except for all the other banana-loving monkeys in my life.