I've bought banana chips many times when living in North America, but have never tried drying them out myself. Since I had such a huge volume of excellent bananas, I decided to give it a try.
I read somewhere that the banana pieces should be dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning, and I had luckily just picked up a giant lemon that had fallen out of the tree that hovers over my back door. I squeezed the juice from a couple of segments into a small bowl, and proceeded to dip, turn and dip each piece of banana.
Then, I turned on the dehydrator and started drying ....
After about 24 hours, it seemed like they were about half as dry as they should be, so I turned them over and continuted drying ...
and drying ...
and drying ....
Altogether, they were there for 4 days ... although I turned the dehydrator off for the last night, then in the morning thought they were still too moistly rubbery, so turned it back on again for several more hours.
Verdict: Once dried, the dozen bananas that I started out with nicely fit into a small container that I keep in the refrigerator. Even after all those hours of drying, they still seemed a little rubbery-moist to me, and I didn't want to take the chance that they would rot on these hot moist days.
The flavor is incredibly great ... a bit of a lemony tang to the compacted sweetness of a great banana! I'm still not sure how I will use them ... maybe to add to my cooked cereal ... I'll let you know.
Fantastic,
ReplyDeleteI love banana chips, but to be able to make your own.....that's great :)
Where do you get all the cool kitchen gear, at Paiz?
ReplyDeleteHi Mark ... we don't have a Pais here in Peten ... each year (or so) before i go home to Canada i make a list of what i feel will be most useful for my cooking aspirations and make it a mission to find it and bring it back. You should see my suitcases ... no wonder the customs agents always want to search everything I own. :>)
ReplyDelete