The Plantain

Have you ever seen those peculiar looking miniature bananas at your local supermarket? Although plantains look a lot like regular bananas, these baby bananas are really much sweeter than the average eating banana. Throughout the Caribbean, the plantain is a necessary cooking ingredient, and this small, yellow, fruit is also something of a Caribbean tradition.

While you can simply peel a regular banana and munch away, plantains must be cooked in order to be consumed, but they do not have to be ripe in order to taste delicious. There is nothing quite as delicious as a battered, fried, and moist plantain that has been cooked to perfection. You can find cooked “fritters” all over the islands, and these tasty treats are a great way to delve right into the heart of Caribbean cooking. Another way to cook plantains that you might encounter is to pound green plantains, slice them, fry them, and pound them again in order to create a form of crispy banana chip; these tempting chips are called “tostones,” and they are a popular favorite.

Plantains throughout the Caribbean are often not considered to be a sort of fruit, although technically they are, and many cooks treat plantains in the same manner that North Americans tend to treat potatoes. It is not uncommon to find cooked plantains on your plate, or to see some variety of baked plantain on a restaurant menu. When you are in the Caribbean, opt for a tasty plantain in place of your average starch, and you will see why these little bananas are such an important part of the Caribbean diet.