ON THE PLATE Green-banana flour power

Well, I recently wrote about green oranges – now it’s green bananas!

And again, there’s an element of synchronicity on three levels, which will become apparent to you in that firstly, I was reading in an R M Williams magazine that from the small outback town of Walkamin (population 447), a certain Krista Watkins was named national winner of the 2018 Agrifutures Rural Woman’s Award. Secondly, this initiative struck a chord with my current passion for doing all that we can to reduce waste, and thirdly, a chance to explore a totally new ingredient; well, new to me anyway.

Krista is a busy mum to two daughters aged 7 and 4, and grew up on a cattle farm, so the “farming life” was well known to her. She trained as a teacher, but in marrying Rob, a banana plantation farmer, soon returned to the land and focused
her skills in the wake of cyclones, drought, destroyed crops and heartache, to turn what would have become landfill into a viable product, green banana flour! Rob and Krista’s food company Natural Evolution produces a range of gluten-free green-banana flour products and they now export internationally. In October, they launched a sweet potato equivalent and are currently continuing to explore other fruits and vegetables. I am in awe of the ingenuity to turn a product that may have previously been wasted into something of value.

Discovering this article on Krista’s award serendipitously coincided with seeing green-banana flour at the supermarket, so I  just had to try it out.

This is also a bit of a nod to Mother’s Day, to celebrate the ingenuity of Krista and to congratulate her on her achievements, and to acknowledge all the mums who are faced daily with the challenges of raising children, juggling a multitude of tasks and often being the glue that keeps families together.

A little more research has revealed that banana flour is made from peeled, unripe bananas and as you’d expect is commonly used in West African, Central American, Haitian and Jamaican cuisines, all countries that’s climate is perfect for growing bananas! The flour can be used as a substitute for other grains to make breads, pasta and cakes, but my first thought was to try out muffins. Raw, it does have a mild banana flavour, but when cooked it has a more earthy, neutral flavour and it is roughly the same texture as normal white plain flour, perhaps a little finer. Interestingly, it requires about 25 per cent less volume than other flours, so best to use Mr Google to convert any of your favourite recipes if you wish to substitute it for wheat, wholemeal or any other flours.

Nutritionally, as bananas are high in essential minerals and vitamins including zinc, vitamin E, magnesium, and manganese, it follows that the flour is good for you. It is also abundant in potassium – so much so that just two tablespoons of the flour contains the same amount as seven whole bananas! Green-banana flour is reputed to help lower cholesterol, to boost heart health, gut health and aid nerve and muscle activity.

Using the recipe on the packet as a starting point, I boldly tweaked the ingredients to create banana and macadamia muffins. The in-house taste tester was circumspect at first bite – but gave the thumbs up when he had eaten the whole muffin. So, I’ll take it that these could be the next new “healthier” smoko treat – either for morning or afternoon tea. They’d certainly be a great snack for the lunch box or after-school energy hit.

Congratulations Krista. And now to explore more recipes using green banana flour!