How to Prepare Banana Blossom
Banana blossom is the large, purple flower that grows at the end of a banana bunch, often referred to as banana heart. It has a unique, slightly bitter flavour and a tender texture, making it a popular ingredient in various cuisines, particularly in Southeast Asia. Culinary uses include being sliced and added to salads, curries, and stir-fries, or used as a meat substitute in vegetarian dishes. The blossoms can be cooked, pickled, or used raw, and are valued for their nutritional benefits, including high fibre and antioxidant content.
Ingredients
Instructions
- After harvesting, wash the outside of the banana blossom to remove any impurities.
- Prepare two bowls of water with the juice of one lemon each, or alternatively, 2 tbsp of vinegar per bowl. This will prevent the banana blossom from browning.
- Start by removing the outer bracts (the large, purple leaves), one layer at a time, and discard.
- Beneath each outer bract is a comb of banana flowers. Remove the entire comb of flowers by hand and place into the bowl of lemon water. Tip: keep the flowers in-tact as a comb for now.
- Continue removing the outer bracts and the flower combs until you reach the inner bracts (the smaller, lighter-coloured leaves). A good indication of when you can stop peeling off the outer bracts is when the next bract layer is seamless, pale in colour and tender, or the individual banana flowers don't have a clear slit in the petals (as it will be more time consuming to process these in the steps below).
- The remaining whole blossom is edible too! Slice the blossom in half lengthways and then into strips (inner bracts, flowers and all!). Place into the second bowl of lemon water. You should now have one bowl of banana flowers and one bowl of chopped banana blossom.
- Next, we will be processing each individual banana flower. This is the most tedious part but is necessary to remove any unpalatable parts of the flower, and it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Detaching one flower from the comb at a time, open the petal of the flower to reveal the stamen and the sepal (as pictured) for removal. These are the two parts that will be removed from every flower as they are tough and unpalatable. Repeat until all individual flowers have been processed. Tip: The reason for keeping the flowers attached to the comb initially is so that once the stamen and sepal are removed, the flowers can be placed back individually into the bowl of water so that you can keep track of which flowers have been processed. This just ensures that the flowers are in the lemon water for as long as possible without having to prepare a third bowl of lemon water.
- You have now completed all the preparation! For best results, soak the banana blossoms in lemon water for at least 30 minutes before using. If not using immediately, cover the bowls tightly and store the blossoms in the lemon water in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Fresh/uncooked banana blossoms can be quite bitter, but once incorporated into cooked dishes (such as curries and stir fries), the flavour should mellow out. You can also blanch the banana blossoms in hot water then plunge them into ice water to help reduce the bitterness, or marinate the blossoms in a mixture of vinegar, salt and spices to help draw out and mask any bitterness.