Bananas

The most common banana in the West is the dessert banana, the same few varieties being sold under various names. Picked when still green, bananas ripen well off the tree. The texture of the flesh changes from starchy and bland to soft and sweet and the skin turns yellow. Lesser-known varieties include the small delicate apple and peach bananas, which have thin skin and much sweeter flesh.

Less familiar in Western cuisine, but commonplace in Africa and the Caribbean, is the plantain or cooking banana, with green skin flecked or scarred with patches of brown. The skin is difficult to peel and turns from light green to black when the banana is fully ripe. They are usually sold singly and are never eaten raw. Now appearing in the West are red dessert and cooking bananas, with deep red or pink skin and creamy pink flesh.