…and have a golden hue/bananas are the best/and are the best for you!
Remember that little Chiquita jingle from the 80s?
I always sing it for my husband when he complains that the bananas are ‘rotten’. Surprisingly enough, he doesn’t find it as hilariously instructive as I do. He has this thing about fruit, see, he’ll only eat it within a very small window (usually less than one day) when its at his perfect level of ripeness.
I’m a lot less picky, truth be told. If my apple has a bruise, I often don’t even bother to cut that part out, but will usually just eat the bruised area first – the idea being to get the bad part over with first, and then enjoy the rest of the apple. Incidentally, I’ll also do this with burnt spots on toast. Go figure. But getting back to fruit, I also can enjoy it at a whole range of ripeness. Got a plum that’s a little firm and tart? No matter, I’ll eat it. How about a nectarine a little past its prime? Sure…give it here. And spotty bananas – of course!
But my husband, darn him, is a different creature. Bananas, for husband, have to be yellow, slightly firm, and completely without spots. So, if I buy them yellow, we really only have one day to enjoy them. If I buy them green, we have about a 3-day window in which he’ll eat them before they begin to get spotty. I’ll usually finish off one or two when he’s passed them over, but let’s face it, one can only eat so many bananas. If, for instance, I buy 5 or 6 bananas on a Friday, and we go camping on the weekend, we might end up back at home on Sunday with a bowl full of fruit that hubby won’t touch.
So, what’s a girl to do? I guess there are a few options:
1. Garbage
2. Compost
3. Force feed the children
4. Bake Banana Bread
Funny, I almost always opt for number 4! Here’s why; I love to bake and, I have to say, I do make a mean banana bread. I’ve actually developed a bit of a reputation in the local mommy circle for my amazing banana bread. But I just don’t know what to do with the other fruits. I could make applesauce or apple crumble, true, but what to do with overripe pears, peaches, nectarines? Again, I could manage something with these similar orchard fruits. But what do you do with, say, oranges that have turned? Or mangos? Or – here’s a challenge – grapes?
So, over to you…any interesting and cool recipes for those leftover fruits? I’d love to know!