Banana bounty
November 7, 2008 by Susie Collins
We have tons of banana trees in our yard, so every week or so a bunch like this is ready for harvest. The thing about bananas is you go from zero to 100 in about 24 hours! One day they are all green and the next all yellow. If you don’t get them down off the tree quickly, the birds beat you to the bounty.
On harvest day, I always eat about 10 before we even get them into the house. It’s always fun to share with neighbors; hands from this bunch went out to about five households. The next day, one neighbor brought me banana muffins she’d made! I love that, trading and sharing abundance.
Lucky we live Hawaii!
I’d love to have my own banana trees! I need a banana every morning, and they don’t grow locally, but I have yet to find a food as perfect as a banana for my breakfast smoothie.
I discovered that squirrels and racoons also love bananas!
Everybody loves bananas! My chickens are crazy for them.
PS Linda, you know you can freeze bananas, right? You can buy them when you can find them, peel them, and put in freezer. I put as many as I can into a freezer bag and squeeze out all the air before freezing, and then break individual ‘nanas off the frozen chunk as I need them. They last a few months that way and are perfect for putting into a smoothie.
Thanks for that Susie. I’ve heard of chocolate covered frozen nanas, but the one I have sitting in the freezer with the peel still on it as an experiment, is still there… Since I rarely eat them “fresh” but use them mashed with my goat protein and mineral powders, freezing makes sense.
I have noticed that the organic bananas taste very different from conventional ones, and they are rarely on sale. But if the freezing works well, then I won’t have to worry about supply so much if I can ever find a safer place to live out of town where organics are scarcer. I’ll just need to buy a bigger freezer.
On another freezer note that I’m loving, I recently learned that we can wash, (dry) and chop leeks, and freeze to use as needed! It is working brilliantly for me, as I can’t have a lot, but a little adds so much flavour to food.
Freeze leeks? Really? Before cooking? That is so good to know. I love leeks!
You got the part about peeling the ‘nanas before freezing right? The part about squeezing all the air out of the freezer bag before sealing is important, too. They go right in the smoothie frozen and grind up to a great texture.
You don’t know how much I wish I could share ours with you.
Yes you can freeze fresh chopped leeks, and use a teaspoon full or handful whenever you want.
I didn’t get the part about peeling the bananas before freezing. I suspect that can make a really really big difference.
;-p
I hear dried bananas are good too!
Dried bananas are yummy yummy and we dry a couple of hands from each bunch. Not chips, though. We cut them in half and dry into a soft “leathery” texture. omg they are so good.