Chances are that unless you frequent a Latin American grocery store, you don’t give bananas much thought when you go shopping. You take one of those bright-yellow Cavendishes home, peel it, and eat something mildy sweet and good enough to keep eating. They is perfect for a fast snack or some smoothie action.
But walk into a Latin American market and what do you see? Short, stubby, squared-off fruits? Those are burro bananas. And they taste nothing like your typical banana.
How to Cook and Store Burro Bananas
Depending on ripeness, the burro banana can transforms in flavor entirely. Knowing this transformation give you an idea of which fruit to use. But the best part about the burro banana? It’s a two-in-one. While the Cavendish is primarily an eat-right-now fruit, the burro begins its journey as a vegetable.
It is a bit more like plantain when it’s tough, dark-green and hard, but ends as a sweet piece of fruit to be eaten out of hand. Faintly tart and still firm and starchy, the burro has enough body to stand up to heat… In other words, it’s great boiled or fried. Slice it on the bias and smash it into rounds until it’s nice and crispy and you have some tostones on your hands.
But here’s where many people will pause because it tastes different, and that difference is off-putting. Use the tartness to your advantage; that acidity can brightens heavy stews or cut through rich meats without needing extra lime juice. No need to squeeze the lime after!
Over several days, the green lightens to more of a yellow color. The texture also begins to soften greatly over that period of time. Inside the fruit, resistant starch break down into simple sugars. By now, it’s good for slicing up for use on savory tacos or grilling. Add beans, cheese, and a bit of brightness.
And then another change: Once the peel gets completely yellowed with black speckling, the fruit shifts once more. Inside, it take on a very custardy quality, becoming quite sweet. It can compete with best dessert bananas. The shift in taste from the green stage to the spotted stage is significant. The former are a side dish of vegetables; the latter is pure caramel sweetness.
Unlike bananas sold in supermarkets, with burro bananas, how you store them makes a difference. Think of it as managing two different product in one fruit. If purchased green (for cooking), stash them on the countertop out of direct sun. Left alone, they’ll be at their best in roughly two weeks. Don’t refrigerate when still green. Cool temperatures stops ripening. Even worse, they prevent the sugars from developing properely, which ruins the texture later.
Once fully yellow with brown freckles, transfer to fridge to temporarily stop further decay. In cool conditions, the skin will quickly go black. Alarming-looking, but this doesn’t harm the creamy white interior. Refrigerated peels darken on burro bananas, causing many people to toss them. No need to waste good fruit. Judge doneness by its insides, not its outsides when it’s cold.
Got more than you can stand? Freeze some peeled fruit for future smoothies, breads, etc. You should of frozen them sooner.
The key to the burro banana is patience and observation. Pay attention to how the color shifts as it ripens (from deep green to speckled yellow), and you will get a flavor experience far beyond what ordinary bananas offer. It is worth the effort.