Message Board Archives

Why do you guys prefer the green banana over the green plantain for cooking?

I personally think the green plantain is tastier than the green banana when cooked.

Just my opinion.

First politics/Trump.
Now food.
I guess if that don't work to scratch the itch then it's will be the next of the trinity.....

On the subject though, there is no way green plantian is tastier than green banana....i tend to resist both, but plantain is just too dry and not real tasty in any way....green banana has a sweetness to it still.

In reply to black

In the Yard plantain had the same status as the Bajan Privilege, so the common man only had access to bananas, hence the popularity.

In reply to black
plantain was never as popular a crop as banana, so if you have lemon you make lemonade.

In reply to camos

Plantains are very popular in Guyana.

In reply to black

Hence, the BG Plantain!

In reply to black

In reply to black

Trinis too - dem call it green fig.
I prefer boiled green bananas with local dishes over boiled green plantain. I like green plantain in split peas soup or jerk chicken and corn soup.
I love pound fried green plantain and it is a rare day I eat ripe plantain. I have a sister who still adores her friend yellow plantain.

In reply to Chrissy

I don't like yellow plantains.

In reply to camos

Latin Americans, Haitians and Africans consume a lot of plantains!

In reply to StumpCam

I know that, but when I was growing up, plantain was a treat.

In reply to StumpCam
Ugandans use a variety of Banana akin to the 'Hawaiian Banana' (big n fat) to make their staple carb dish called Matoukie. The crush and whip it until it looks like West African Fufu.
I ask dem, why go through all that trouble when one can just crush it on their plate?

Ripe plantains are the bomb....just like ripe fig. Or as we D'cans say, ryefig.

Love that we get them here pretty cheap....fried ripe plantains? Please and thank you....I can eat a hand of ripe bananas in one day and I love all things ripe fig....love it in icecream....cream pie....one of my friends makes a pudding with it.....yummy yummy yumzy.

In reply to black
Love green plantain chips fried in coconut oil - about to open a bag.

In reply to Chrissy

In reply to Chrissy

Love plantain chips too.

In reply to Emir
Disagree Emir. One has to be consuming lots of carbs along with lots of fat; animal fat included and then
be inactive to have lifestyle illnesses. In fact many of the high cholesterol problems stem from eating refined carbs over and above the bodies needs. If after being stored in the liver as glycogen it is not used
then it becomes fatty acids and stored as fat all over the body especially around organs.

In reply to Brerzerk

But the proportion of carbs is too high in the West Indian diet and now with the introduction of American fried foods- no oil is good for consumption- along with the carbs found in potato and all types of green fig or green moko and or green plaintain remains unhealthy.


The lack of fruits and vegetables is killing people by way of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, HBP, heart disease etc.


A diet that is free of oil cooked foods, free from all carbs and sugar is ideal. One that consist of Fruits, Vegetables, Fish, (no shell fish such as shrimps, counch, oysters etc. Organic poultry, Goat and Beef meats (no dirty pig meat and other wild boars) will almost guarantee a life free of ill health and diseases.


For drinks, 12 glasses of water daily with one cup of coffee in the morning. No fruit juices- including the so called fresh squeeze fruit juices, no alcohol beverages of any type and no shakes . It goes without saying, all soft drinks and other so called sports drinks must be avoided at all costs.

In reply to camos If you are from a place like Oracabessa (a banana shipping port for over 100 years), you would understand that plantains were as delectable as whitehouse bananas. Somewhat akin to going to St Mary High and seeing grapefruit trees on the lawns, laden with bright yellow grape fruits. And later wondering why only birds would eat the grapefruits.I later discovered that my childhood had not prepared me for grapefruits that were not sweet!.

In reply to Chrissy That green fig thing brings a smile to my face. I am married to a Trinidadian, but before marriage, I was invited to lunch or dinner with my prospective wife's family.Her mother in trying to make me comfortable asked me if I ate green figs. I told her no.
Months later on another trip to Trinidad my girlfriend as she was then, and I are driving in the back of nowhere to Mayaro.She is pointing out something to me and mentions the green fig trees, and all I am seeing are banana trees. So I asked is that what your mother was asking me about?. My dear thats a banana tree.

In reply to Chrissy

But green fig isn’t banana
It’s another 2 or 3 types

They are just easier to grow- or find

In reply to Emir

Bro mi love fried green plantain - I eat mostly healthy food but mi een giving up dem lil pleasures. What I do is use di best coconut oil around.

Let mi put it dis way - if I drop dead tomorrow not one obit will say I died young

In reply to alfa1975

In reply to Halliwell
Hahahahhaa - not here

In reply to Chrissy

In reply to alfa1975

My banana / plantain story.

Years ago I worked on a project in Puerto Rico (Ponds de Puerto Rico).

When my local associates realized that I was Jamaican, they started treating me like one of them. They started taking me out on 'road trips'. Nice.

They were so impressed when not only could I point out the difference between a plantain plant and a banana plant, I was able to point out the difference in banana plant varieties; Lakatan, Gros Michel, Robusta. They thought those things were all just bananas.

In reply to Drapsey
You must be quite an expert. I am impressed - I could not do dat

In reply to Drapsey
Asa St. Mary man, Bananas and later plantains were like the family badge starting with supplies to
the United Fruit company in the late 19th century.

Gros Michel, the ace of bananas ,was the strong suit and even though the variety was practically destroyed by leaf spot disease, a fwew
plants still remain on what is left of the vast acreage. Lakatan ,Robusta and S19 came to the fore as they were more
resistant to disease. We used top ship tons of the bananas through the port of Oracabessa. That was the main industry of the seaport town then.

When I became involved as a young man,I invested heavily in plantains..the Horse variety and the Maiden Variety.
We used both bananas and plantains extensively,eaten boiled ,green or ripe making porridge with both too although nice green bananas with
mackerel, run down and such was our favourite when as boys we run our own 'boat' (cooking).

During WW2 ,bananas and plantains were dried and grated and made into flour and stored on the property .The family did the same with breadfruit.
The 'flour' was stored in a special barrels placed in a special little room that was pretty cool too.
When I tell folks about the 'flour' from these fruits they are incredulous.. But war and blockades caused inventiveness then when one could
not afford to waste food but preserve it. The fanily helped a lot of the poorer folks in the community out in this way too.

All cooking was done with our home made coconut oil. Fried ripe plantains in the oil ,eaten with ackee is a wonderful dish.
We even drank pot water after cooking the bananas/plantains as any nutrients present would not go to waste.
We, in St. Mary ,grew up strong back in the day.

In reply to hubert

Nice, nice!

Although I came up much later, I can still identify with some of those 'remnants'. I recall food was stored in the buttry (sp) where things remained cool. All good because the ice truck only showed up on Sundays (after church).

BTW, while growing up I hated boiled green bananas. I'll eat some every now and then, but hate the peeling effort while preparing for cooking.

Another of my side stories...

One of my earlier memories is being taken by my mother to see the Banana Boat being loaded at the Montego Bay wharf. The women carrying the banana bunch on top of the head, katta and everything involved. Did I mention all the singing?

In reply to Drapsey

Puerto Ricans love them some yellow plantains.

It's fascinating how different cultures embrace or reject certain foods.

In reply to hubert

Growing up in Guyana we ate plantains in similar ways!
Banana, however we only ate it primarily as a fruit, until I came to New York and had boiled banana at Jamaican restaurant!

In reply to StumpCam

Yep.

How about papaya?

Have you ever cooked green papaya?

In reply to black

Nope!

In reply to StumpCam

It's pretty good.

In reply to black

In reply to camos



There's some truth to the tenderizer part.

In reply to black

I had it as a ripened fruit yesterday!

In reply to StumpCam

The papayas here in the supermarkets are not that tasty.

In reply to black

I agree! Not the same as tree ripe!

I have been having Plantains for breakfast for about 15 years,I have noticed though,the plantains I get here in England are getting smaller.This morning I bought 3 plantains and really you would;ve thought they were bananas.I remember when plantains used to be almost 12 inches,the ones I bought today was nothing more than 8 inches.

I think they are harvested too young and haven't fully grown.

In reply to Drapsey

Peeling the banana was the toughest thing as you had to also deal with stain if you do not ,moist
your hand with some oil prior.
However, that problem was solved when I migrated to the USA.

Where we used to put a slice and then used fingers to take off the skin,the
Jamaicans here taught me..but not before berating me for trying to peel it the Jamaica way

'We no peel banana in America' one sweet lady told me then showed me how

.Just put two long slice with a knife on opposite sides and; put in the pot of water and when
half way cooked, use a fork or such and easily removed the skin.. then continue to cook fully.
And following custom growing up, I leave a few peels in the pot too to the end.

Worked like a charm and have not peeled a green banana since 1970.

In reply to hubert

Thanks for those pointers, hubert.

I also practice the method of slitting before peeling, but depending on the variety and or condition of the banana, the peeling can still be a challenge.

Going forward I might adopt the method of pre-boiling with the skin on so as to loosen things up a bit.

We keep learning.

Link Text

We have no songs or poems about plantains

In reply to hubert

My mother did it that way in Trinidad.

In reply to granite

Learn it late but very thankful

In reply to hubert

To continue the Banana story, I had to look-up this poem ...

The Song of the Banana Man

In reply to black

Very good

In reply to beesis

You een know dis classic?

from di king of innuendo

In reply to Ayenmol

In my opinion, plantains offer different array of textutes and tastes depending on the different stages of ripeness, banana will simply fall apart if ripened past a certain point. Plantains can be cooked green, slightly ripe and fully ripe to the point where they do not fall apart.