The venerable Joy of Cooking (c) 1997, Rombauer, Becker & Becker, gives but a brief nod to the plantain, noting that "Plantains are a close relation of the banana, but they are starchier and therefore always cooked. The form and degree of cooking depends on a plantain's stage of ripeness. When green it is very hard, not sweet, and barely banana flavored. Green plantains are cooked like potatoes, in their skins and the timing is similar. When the skin is yellow, the plantains are half-ripe. Cook them with the skin on as for potatoes; the flesh will be creamy and have a delicate banana taste. When the skin is brown to black, cook plantains as you would a banana -- the flesh will be soft but firmer than aa banana's . . . "

". . . Green and half-ripe plantains can be ripened like bananas at room temperature; this will take several days. Once ripe, plantains will keep for a few days at room temperature or in the refrigerator."

"Plantains have affinities with butter, lime juice, rice and other tropical fruits. Allow one half plantain per serving."

Let us not dwell too long on this decidedly potato-and-banana oriented perspective.  A plantain is like a potato as a screw-driver is like a butter knife. A plantain DOES look like a banana on first glance, but it is a decidedly superior fruit in many ways.

We eat a lot of plantains on "Sand Dollar" and we are always amazed to find yet another way to use them. If you have a supply available, try them green first and work your way to the riper varieties as your love of plantains matures.

Plantain-alia

The green plantain is a sturdy and long-storing commodity. You can dump a ton of plantains out of the back of a one ton truck onto a hot concrete road one morning and the plantains at the bottom will still be sellable at the market the following day (at least until the next truck arrives -- being gringoes, we have bought just before the arrival of the next shipment on more than one occasion. Oh, maybe a beat up plantain would not sell in a US grocery, where the skin of a fruit or vegetable is generally thought to indicate the health of the interior, but with plantains, there seems to be little relation between the condition of the outer skin and the quality of the inner fruit.

In Honduras, fishermen we'd met referred to plantain along with various starchy foods as "bread food". We have seen boiled green plantain chunks used much like bread as an accompaniment to meals. The green plantain has been peeled and boiled (until it forks tender like potato or other starchy vegetables) and cut in half. A half plantain has more starch than three regular-sized rolls or biscuits.

Speaking of green a bit more, it is of course quite apparent when a plantain is green since that is its color. But when is a plantain ripe? Well as it ripens it first turns yellow on the outside, then the outside gets black spots and streaks, and then these spread so the whole skin finally is quite black, and then white or red mold may start to grow on the skin. They say a plantain ripens from the outside in, so even if the skin is looking quite diseased, the fruit inside may still be fine. As it ripens, the fruit inside becomes a bit more yellow and sweeter. As long as it remains pretty firm, the plantain is still quite good.

At the end, when the plantain is black and getting a bit soft, the folks we met around Maracaibo, Venezuela, liked to carefully peel the plantain and bake the ripe fruit (often still on half a skin if the fruit was quite soft) on a bare oven rack with a slice of their local fresh white cheese on top. Since the fruit is quite ripe once the skin has thoroughly blackened, little cooking is needed at this stage.

We like the plantains best when the peel is yellow with many black spots and the fruit is yellow but still firm. At this stage the fruit is great for sauteeing. It cooks slow, and caramelizes nicely. A plantain will develop a nice deep brown in the pan on medium-high heat with a tablespoon or two of olive oil per plantain. If it burns a little before you flip it, that is no problem since plantain seems to heal a bit from burns in the pan (the black fades back to brown after you flip it up if the burn is not too severe!). Peel the plantain and cut it into slices only about 0.5cm (1/4 inch) thick and cut diagonally to make the pieces bigger.

Most latinos seem to prefer the plantain when it is a little greener in the similar form of a "patacone" (pat-a-CONE-eh). They cut the plantain into one- inch chunks, often pre-fry them in hot oil (hot fire, half an inch or more of oil in the pan), then remove them and smash them flat between two pieces of wood (usually hinged together to make a patacone press) then return the flattened plantain to the hot oil and fry it till golden brown and crisp almost like a potato chip. Delicious lightly salted and served hot.

Around Central America, we encountered plantains in several preparations involved multiple-steps of preparation. Write us if you want more detail but briefly, we have had plantain boiled in Coca-Cola then sauteed in butter; Pan fried and made into sandwiches with cheese in the middle, then dipped in batter and fried again; and plantain is often found in soups and stews as a thickener. We have made plantain bread, but it is easier if the plantains are boiled first, then mashed and added to the batter