Plantains? (groceries, recipe, buy, orange)

[in_newengland]

Sent dh on a little errand today to get a few groceries that were on the list. We need bananas but at that store they are always very green and unripe. He saw some "bananas" that weren't green and looked almost ripe; by mistake he got two plantains. Not knowing they were not bananas, I tried to open one to use it in my smoothie. Had to cut it with a knife! The inside is hard and light orange in color.

I know they are plantains because it says so in tiny print on the label. So anyway, I am stuck with these things and I don't like to waste food. In looking them up, it says they can be cooked--but I don't want something to cook. Can I use it in the Vitamix to make a smoothie just as I would with a banana? Are these things ripe?

Thanks in advance--

[Ginger34]

I wouldn't do a smoothie. You can make plantain chips and cook up some refried beans and rice. Just heat pan, a little oil,
slice in little circles like chips- or off center for oval size, and put a few in at a time.

Or, mash them up and make a Puerto Rican recipe, mofongo.

[Ginger34]

Oven Baked Sweet Plantains Recipe - Genius Kitchen

[Ginger34]

Plantains 101 | The Pioneer Woman

[Corn-fused]

Ewwww no, you don't want to eat plantains raw. They are way too bitter to eat raw. Blech! LOL They may look similar to a banana on the outside but nothing like bananas in the respect of how you eat them.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by Corn-fused

Ewwww no, you don't want to eat plantains raw. They are way too bitter to eat raw. Blech! LOL They may look similar to a banana on the outside but nothing like bananas in the respect of how you eat them.

They are very sweet once the peel has turned completely black, and you can use them to make Platanos Maduros. The green ones can be used to make Mofongo, or Tostones.

[Corn-fused]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

They are very sweet once the peel has turned completely black, and you can use them to make Platanos Maduros. The green ones can be used to make Mofongo, or Tostones.

And those are all cooked foods, which makes sense. OP's are not ripe and is asking if they can use them raw and that is how I answered their question.

[in_newengland]

So the one I tried to peel isn't even ripe. *&^!!$#* I was so in a mood for a nice cool banana strawberry smoothie!

I think I will wait until the darn thing is black then. You slice it and fry it and eat it like potato chips, apparently. dh is upset that he was tricked and he wants to take the other one back to the store. He said they were in with the bananas. They are the exact same size as bananas and are yellow with spots--you can't tell the difference unless you read the fine print on the label. Banana fraud, LOL.

Thank you. This has been an education and I will be eating something new. And will be very careful when buying "bananas."

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by Corn-fused

And those are all cooked foods, which makes sense. OP's are not ripe and is asking if they can use them raw and that is how I answered their question.

Nothing in my post suggests that I was correcting you; I was merely adding to what you had already stated. Sheesh!!!

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

...You slice it and fry it and eat it like potato chips, apparently...

You can do that with the green plantain. When it's ripe (black) you can slice it into larger chunks and basically sauté them. We eat plantains and refried beans quite often, and my wife likes both with crema.