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Green Banana Biomass

Green Banana Biomass

A low-fat alternative to cashews that will add weight and volume to your soups and creams while maintaining the richness you usually get when adding cashews.

  • Author: Dr. Rosane Oliveira
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 8 minutes
  • Total Time: 13 minutes
  • Yield: 16 cubes 1x
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Ingredients

  • 4 green bananas, organic
  • Water

Instructions

  1. Individually separate super-green organic bananas, keeping the stems intact so that the meat of the banana is not exposed, and water will not seep inside the peel.
  2. Wash one by one with water and mild soap and rinse them well.
  3. Stove Pressure Cooker Instructions:
    1. Fill half a pressure cooker with water and allow to boil. Add bananas to boiling water.
    2. Cover pressure cooker. When the pressure-release valve starts to make a hissing noise, reduce temperature to low heat.
    3. Allow to cook for 10 minutes then turn off stove and remove from heat. Do not open pressure cooker. Leave pressure cooker on stove until pressure is gone (about 1 hour).
    4. Continue with steps 6-9 below.
  4. Electric Pressure Cooker Instructions:
    1. If using an electric pressure cooker, add the bananas to the pot and fill half of it with water.
    2. Cover electric pressure cooker with lid, close steam vent, choose Manual (Pressure Cook High) and set to 8-10 minutes.
    3. When electric pressure cooker beeps, turn the pressure cooker off and wait for the pressure to come down naturally.
    4. Continue with steps 6-9 below.
  5. Stovetop Instructions:
    1. If cooking on the stovetop, add bananas to boiling water and cook them until the peels open. Cooking time will vary, so remove the bananas as the peels start to open.
    2. Continue with steps 6-9 below.
  6. The cooking water should be thrown away as it contains tannin. The meat of the  banana may turn out pink to light or dark gray.
  7. Carefully peel hot bananas using two forks or spoons, cut the meat into 3 or 4 pieces, and blend them with the smallest amount of water until smooth. If using a high-speed blender or food processor, less water will be needed.
  8. The green banana biomass can be stored in the fridge for up to five days.
  9. The biomass can also be frozen in silicone ice trays and transferred to freezer-safe container until ready to use. The cooked and peeled bananas can also be frozen whole or in pieces for up to 3 months. In that case, soften the frozen bananas in water and whisk until smooth. Use it in the desired recipe.  If the recipe calls for hot liquids, add the frozen bananas directly to the hot liquid.  The green banana will add bulk to the recipe.

Notes: When buying green banana, ask the grocery store clerk to pick the ones they keep at the back of the store. The bananas they have out, even if green, may have started to ripen.

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Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD

President & CEO, Plant-Based Life Foundation | Dr. Rosane Oliveira combines a lifelong passion for nutrition with 25 years of genetics research to create programs that help people develop healthy habits on their journey towards a more plant-based lifestyle. She is a Visiting Clinical Professor in Public Health Sciences and was the founding director of the first Integrative Medicine program at the UC Davis School of Medicine. She completed her postgraduate studies in Brazil and did her postdoctoral training in immunogenetics and functional genomics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.