[0 - 1] - As a kid, I learned a lot of great lessons
[1 - 3] from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,"
[3 - 6] but they all pale in comparison to this.
[6 - 7] Yes, this is a banana
[7 - 10] wrapped in a slice of white deli American cheese.
[10 - 12] Mister Rogers demoed this recipe
[12 - 14] in an episode all about snacks.
[14 - 17] I watched him do it, went and tried it immediately
[17 - 19] and was an instant convert.
[19 - 22] It is a perfect study in contrast.
[22 - 24] You have the slightly firmish cheese
[24 - 26] that gives way to a soft, creamy banana.
[26 - 28] And the savory richness of the cheese
[28 - 30] balances the banana's sweetness.
[30 - 31] I do hope you'll try it.
[31 - 33] But if you think that's really weird,
[33 - 38] just wait for the rest of this episode. (cheerful music)
[39 - 41] Bananas are huge. (soft upbeat music)
[41 - 43] No, not that kind of huge.
[43 - 45] I mean, in terms of production and popularity.
[45 - 47] Over 100 million tons of bananas
[48 - 50] are produced globally every year.
[50 - 51] Tomatoes hold the top spot
[51 - 53] in terms of fruit production globally.
[53 - 55] But if you're not so much into botany telling you
[55 - 57] that tomato is technically a fruit,
[57 - 59] bananas slide right into number one.
[59 - 63] We can classify most bananas under two main categories,
[63 - 64] cooking bananas and dessert bananas.
[65 - 67] Cooking bananas can be and are eaten raw,
[67 - 69] but most commonly they're cooked
[69 - 70] at various stages of ripeness.
[70 - 72] They're valued as a staple
[72 - 74] for hundreds of millions of people across the globe,
[74 - 76] and they have serious range.
[76 - 79] They can be fried, boiled, ground into flour,
[79 - 80] and so much more.
[80 - 83] Not to mention the plant's leaves and flowers,
[83 - 85] which are also culinary gold.
[85 - 87] Now dessert bananas are the ones that are usually eaten raw,
[87 - 89] out of hand when they're ripe and sweet.
[89 - 92] They're the ones that predominate at U.S. supermarkets
[92 - 94] and they're the focus of today's episode.
[94 - 96] Even within the dessert banana realm,
[96 - 98] there's massive variety.
[98 - 100] We have lady fingers, praying hands,
[100 - 102] red bananas, Gros Michel,
[102 - 105] blue java, and Manzano, just to name a few.
[105 - 108] They can have the taste and texture of vanilla ice cream,
[108 - 110] the sweet-tart balance of an apple,
[110 - 113] or feature loads of tropical fruit aromas.
[113 - 114] Sorry, what's that?
[114 - 116] You haven't heard of any of these bananas.
[116 - 117] You've only ever seen one,
[117 - 121] maybe two varieties of bananas at your store. Gotcha.
[121 - 123] Well, chances are good that you live in a part of the world
[123 - 124] that doesn't grow bananas.
[124 - 125] If that's the case,
[125 - 127] variety and banana are two words
[127 - 129] that have probably never shown up
[129 - 130] in the same sentence for you.
[130 - 132] And that is because there is one banana
[132 - 135] that dominates world production and distribution.
[135 - 137] It's called the Cavendish.
[137 - 138] It's a pretty nice name.
[138 - 143] This banana accounts for 99% of all bananas sold in the U.S.
[143 - 144] which is pretty wild.
[144 - 146] But it wasn't always the case.
[146 - 148] The banana that the United States first fell in love with
[148 - 151] in the 19th century was called the Gros Michel.
[151 - 154] It was nearly wiped out by a fungus called Panama disease.
[154 - 155] So in the 1960s,
[155 - 157] the industry switched to the seemingly
[157 - 160] disease-resistant Cavendish variety.
[160 - 162] However, in the 1990s...
[162 - 163] You guys remember the 1990s, right?
[163 - 166] Grunge, flannel, AOL instant messenger,
[166 - 169] Alanis Morissette misunderstanding the term irony,
[169 - 173] pagers, the Macarena. (upbeat music)
[175 - 178] Oh, and scientists identified a new strain of Panama disease
[178 - 180] called Tropical Race 4.
[180 - 181] Banana growers in Latin America
[181 - 184] have confirmed the new strain's presence.
[184 - 187] So we all collectively wait for the fate of the Cavendish.
[187 - 189] While we're waiting, let's talk about ripening.
[189 - 190] Bananas are climateric fruits.
[190 - 193] That means that they continue to ripen after harvest.
[193 - 195] In the case of bananas, they're picked when mature
[195 - 197] but before they begin ripening.
[197 - 200] Off the plant the change they go through is pretty dramatic.
[200 - 201] From green all the way to black,
[201 - 203] with many stages in between.
[203 - 205] Picking starts the release of ethylene gas,
[205 - 208] which sugars a cascade of changes in the fruit.
[208 - 211] Acids decrease leading to a mellower tasting fruit.
[211 - 212] Chlorophyll breaks down,
[212 - 214] starting the transformation from green to yellow.
[214 - 218] And starch begins to convert to sugar. Fun fact.
[218 - 220] The reason they often hang bananas at the supermarket
[220 - 223] is to help disperse that concentrated ethylene gas.
[223 - 225] That causes the bananas to ripen more slowly,
[225 - 226] which is good for the store.
[226 - 228] Now back to starch and sugar.
[228 - 230] Check out this experiment.
[230 - 232] Here is what we call a lightly speckled banana
[232 - 234] and here is a heavily speckled banana.
[234 - 237] In lab tests, we found that lightly speckled bananas
[237 - 241] average 1.8% fructose which is a very sweet fruit sugar,
[241 - 245] and heavily speckled bananas average 5.3% fructose.
[245 - 247] That's almost three times more fructose.
[247 - 250] And it keeps going all the way until the skin is dark brown.
[250 - 253] For say, banana bread heavily speckled fruit
[253 - 256] makes a huge difference in terms of sweetness and flavor.
[256 - 258] One thing I find really interesting is that
[258 - 261] banana ripeness preference is such an individual thing.
[261 - 264] I think we can all mostly agree that an apple is at its best
[264 - 267] when it's crisp with a nice sweet-tart balance
[267 - 269] and that Hass avocados are at their prime
[269 - 271] when they are soft, rich, and fully ripe.
[271 - 274] And the best peach is sweet and spilling with juice.
[274 - 276] I have friends that eat bananas
[276 - 278] that still have some green on them.
[278 - 279] Can you believe that?
[279 - 281] You can't believe it, right?
[282 - 284] Oh, you can't believe that I have friends.
[285 - 288] Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
[288 - 290] Well, let's look at the spectrum of banana ripeness.
[290 - 294] We have green, green with a trace of yellow,
[294 - 297] yellow with a trace of green, pure yellow,
[297 - 301] lightly speckled, heavily speckled, and brown/black.
[301 - 304] I am so curious about people's banana ripeness preferences.
[305 - 307] I even ask strangers at parties.
[307 - 309] I'm unfortunately being serious.
[309 - 311] And I really wanna know what type of banana eater you are
[311 - 314] so I'm setting up a little poll in the comments.
[314 - 315] Here's how we'll do it.
[315 - 317] First, choose your preferred ripeness level.
[317 - 320] Then answer one if you prefer that ripeness
[320 - 323] but would happily eat a banana at any other ripeness level.
[323 - 326] 10 is for those whose ripeness preference is so strong
[326 - 328] that they would absolutely refuse
[328 - 330] to eat a banana outside of that level.
[330 - 330] I'll go first.
[330 - 332] I'm a heavily speckled seven.
[332 - 335] That means that heavily speckled banana is my preference
[335 - 336] and that I'm pretty strong on that.
[336 - 339] I would eat a lightly speckled banana
[339 - 341] but there's no way I'm going less ripe than that.
[341 - 342] I can't wait to see the results
[342 - 344] and I'll remind you again at the end.
[344 - 347] Okay, now let's talk about some banana mechanics.
[347 - 349] No, definitely not that kind.
[349 - 351] I mean the mechanics of actually eating a banana.
[351 - 354] Some people open bananas at the stem end like this.
[354 - 356] Others go in from the other side like this.
[356 - 358] Now, both methods have pros and cons.
[359 - 362] Going from the stem end requires puncturing the tough peel,
[362 - 363] usually with a fingernail,
[363 - 365] to prevent actually squishing the banana inside.
[365 - 367] It takes a lot more work to get it going.
[367 - 370] The opposite end is much easier, just pinch and peel.
[370 - 372] So what's the downside here?
[372 - 375] Just that it puts this right in your first bite.
[375 - 377] This is a remnant of the banana flower,
[377 - 379] but based on a lot of memes that I've seen
[379 - 381] people seem to really, really hate it.
[381 - 383] If you have a real phobia of this part,
[383 - 385] the stem end might be your best option.
[385 - 387] Now, while we're talking about dislike parts of the banana,
[387 - 390] we have to talk about banana strings.
[390 - 392] I personally don't mind eating them if I'm in a hurry
[392 - 394] and the banana is nice and ripe.
[394 - 395] But from what I can tell
[395 - 398] a lot of people really dislike them,
[398 - 399] but bananas really like them.
[399 - 402] These phloem bundles are essentially their vascular system
[402 - 404] transporting nutrients up and down the fruit.
[404 - 406] Okay, so we are talking about dessert bananas today
[406 - 409] but I just have to do a tiny bit of cooking.
[409 - 412] And you guessed it. We're making banana bread.
[412 - 414] Look, I know everyone has a banana bread recipe
[414 - 416] that they really love,
[416 - 418] but this, this isn't any ordinary banana bread.
[418 - 421] This is Cook's Illustrated Deputy Food Editor
[421 - 424] Andrea Geary's recipe for Six Banana Banana Bread.
[424 - 425] You heard that right.
[425 - 428] Six, 1/2 a dozen, double a triple,
[428 - 432] 1/4 of 24, eighth of 48.
[432 - 434] Okay, I'm done. Let's just go in the kitchen.
[434 - 435] We are going to start by microwaving
[435 - 438] five of our very ripe bananas for five minutes.
[438 - 441] Now we'll strain them through a fine mesh strainer
[441 - 444] and look at how much liquid came out.
[444 - 448] This step gets us about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of banana juice
[448 - 450] and that's too much juice. Sorry.
[450 - 451] What I mean is it's a lot of liquid
[451 - 453] to add back into the loaf.
[453 - 456] So we'll reduce it on the stove top to a 1/4 of a cup,
[456 - 459] concentrating its sweetness and flavor.
[459 - 461] Then we'll add the bananas back to the liquid.
[461 - 463] It's like two old friends getting back together
[463 - 467] after one of them has had some serious life changes. Cool.
[467 - 468] We'll mash the bananas until smooth
[468 - 470] and then we'll stir in butter, eggs,
[470 - 472] brown sugar, and vanilla.
[472 - 474] These wets go into these dries
[474 - 476] which is just flour, baking soda and salt.
[476 - 480] Then we'll fold until only streaks of flour remain. Quick sidebar.
[480 - 483] This language, "Until only streaks of flour remain,"
[483 - 485] is really common in baking recipes
[485 - 486] and particularly quick breads.
[486 - 488] But why do we need to leave streaks?
[488 - 490] It's not that streaks of flour are important.
[490 - 492] We don't actually need the streaks of flour.
[492 - 495] It's just that they're a great visual indicator
[495 - 497] of when you should stop stirring or folding.
[497 - 499] Mixing any further can develop too much gluten
[499 - 501] which leads to a tough quick bread.
[501 - 503] And don't worry, there's enough moisture in this bread
[503 - 505] that those streaks of flour will easily hydrate
[505 - 506] with no more stirring.
[506 - 508] Now we just pour the batter into our loaf pan
[508 - 509] and pop it straight in the oven.
[509 - 512] What? Oh, the sixth banana!
[512 - 513] Of course, double a triple.
[513 - 514] We'll just peel the banana,
[515 - 516] I'm going from the bottom end,
[516 - 518] and then slice it a 1/4 inch thick.
[518 - 519] We'll shingle those slices on either side
[519 - 521] and then rain down some sugar.
[521 - 523] Then we just bake, bake, bake.
[523 - 526] And just look at this absolute star.
[526 - 529] I gotta slice this and try a bite. Mmm!
[529 - 531] That is so good.
[531 - 533] It's really moist, it has incredible banana flavor,
[533 - 535] and a perfect texture.
[535 - 537] The only thing that's better than this slice of banana bread
[537 - 539] is this slice of banana bread
[539 - 541] that's been griddled on both sides in lots of butter.
[541 - 545] It is crispy and warm with a nice soft center.
[545 - 547] Oops, there's a scoop of ice cream on my plate.
[547 - 549] Whether out of hand while driving to work
[549 - 551] or baked into a bread,
[551 - 554] this is absolutely how to eat bananas.
[557 - 559] Thank you all so much for watching.
[559 - 560] Now as a banana lover, you should know that
[560 - 563] while working conditions for banana workers across the globe
[563 - 565] have improved in the past few decades,
[565 - 567] they're still far from where they should be.
[567 - 568] Dangerous working conditions
[568 - 570] are unfortunately still really common.
[570 - 571] There's a link below this video
[571 - 574] to the Rainforest Alliance for you to check it out
[574 - 575] and help pitch in.
[575 - 576] Now, while you're down there,
[576 - 578] hit that like and subscribe button,
[578 - 580] grab that banana bread recipe,
[580 - 583] and you have to let me know your banana ripeness preference
[583 - 586] and your dedication to that level.
[586 - 588] I'm a highly speckled seven and I'll see you next time.