Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Who knew? Banana flowers are edible...

I have a bunch (hah!) of bananas in bloom... The "male" flower (can a parthenogenic plant have a male and female flower?) at the tip is apparently edible.
The deep purplish-crimson-coloured banana flower is used as a vegetable from Sri Lanka to Laos. The flower is borne at the end of the stem. Long, slender, sterile male flowers with a faint sweet fragrance are lined up in tidy rows and protected by large reddish bracts. Higher up the stem are groups of female flowers which develop into fruit without fertilisation.

In Thailand, slices of tender banana flower are eaten raw with the pungent dip known as nam prik, or with fried noodles, or simmered in a hot sour soup with chicken, galangal and coconut milk.

The Banana Blossom Guinatan recipe -- banana flowers cooked in a coconut sauce -- sounds delish.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's a big deal in the Philipines too.

Anonymous said...

yeah, it's pretty normal to be in dishes from where i come from.

arlene,
Silverdale flowers

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