Going Bananas, And Talking Fruity
These past months, just like almost everyone under quarantine I’ve been doing a lot of baking. It’s something I did way before the lockdown and have always enjoyed. There’s enough science in baking to be geeky, yet enough creativity (and touch) to make it artistic. A good combo IMO.
Recently however I’ve been focusing on banana cake, and taking things in a new direction, at least for me.
You see I used to bake banana bread quite regularly years ago, waaaay before our RVing days. In those days I used a low-carb, low-sugar recipe which was kind of our thing at the time. It was OK, but not exactly spectacular, and since then I’ve just….not baked it? It was simply one of those recipes that dropped by the way-side, forgotten with time and sent to oblivion, as such things go.
But then my eye caught some bananas in the store and suddenly I was inspired to come back to it.
So I went back to basics, approaching the whole thing from a more traditional angle, playing with the proportions and details for weeks until I was able to create the succulent, moist, outrageously-banana-rich delicacy that I had dreamt of*. It was a pleasurable experiment that also got me thinking…blog-wise.
We take so many ingredients for granted these days. We live in a world where we expect to be able to buy everything whenever we want it, irrespective of season & where those ingredients come from. Lemons are a winter fruit, yet we expect to see them in the supermarket all year. And apples only come in fall, yet we’d be shocked if we couldn’t buy them in summer.
I’m guilty of these expectations as much as the next person (although I’ve been working to become more aware, and much more seasonal in our purchases), and the recent lockdown only amplified that need. It highlighted those things that we can get locally (and should buy locally) compared to those that came from afar, and in truth we don’t really need.
But yes, once I saw those bananas in the supermarket, admittedly I gave in to temptation and went down the banana rabbit-hole….
*Banana Cake Recipe? For those interested in a near-perfect banana cake recipe, I recommend THIS one from food.com, using 4 bananas (this is key), reducing the sugar, adding a tsp of cinnamon and under-cooking it juuust a smidgen (for that extra moistness)
I Bought French Bananas
Bananas are not native to France, and yet they are still very much French.
It’s the French Antilles that are the main source here, producing more than 250,000 tonnes of the starchy fruit each year. Over 80% of that total is from Martinique which, also interestingly enough, was an island I happened to live on for a few months back in my youth. The latter is a longer story from that confusing & fuzzy time in my life I call BP (= Before Paul). Suffice to say I lived on the Island and loved my time there, well aware that all the locals spoke French, and yet never really connecting the two.
All of this goes back to the French colonial empire of course which is a long, brutal and torrid history. 13 territories remain from that time, still part of the country today. Collectively they are called la France d’outre-mer and they include several islands in the South Pacific, Indian and Caribbean Oceans, a slice of South America (French Guiana), a teeny spot in the North Atlantic just off the coast of Canada (Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and even a 6 km2 atol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (Clipperton Island). These days they all have various individual legal designations, but ultimately they all remain part of France.
So as you can see France extends well beyond the European continent which means the European Union extends there too (six of these territories are part of the EU), and in turn means we can buy bananas at our local supermarket that are technically, completely French. Quite bananas if you think about it….
Bananas Have Always Been Exotic
Of course I’ve always loved bananas.
When we lived in Asia we had access to mini-bananas (baby or Lady Finger bananas) which, if you’ve never tried them, are like super-saturated, creamy-sweet bananas in mini-form. They are intense, delicious and completely addictive. And of course Paul’s Cuban heritage means we’ve eaten masses of Plantain’s both green & ripened to black, fried with oil and salted, creating that near-perfect mix of sweet and savory that so beautifully accompanies all Caribbean-style cooking. I could live my life on those things…
But for my mom and dad who grew up in Denmark, bananas were very much a foreign thing.
During the 2nd world war they were one of the first fruits to disappear, as many overseas ingredients did during that time (including coffee**, which pains me to imagine). But that did not erase the memory of them nor the longing for their return, which remained rich and only grew in intensity with time. So when bananas finally did come back to Denmark, it was an event celebrated throughout the country.
It was November 3rd, 1945, over 5 years since the last banana had been seen in Denmark, and something spectacular was about to happen. A boat was arriving in Copenhagen late that evening, the M/S Paraguay (DFDS) laden with exotic fruit from Las Palmas, and it was reported that it would be carrying over a million bananas. A song had been written for the occasion (CLICK here to listen to it on YouTube) that promised both liberation and joy, “når der kommer en båd med bananer, så har vi glemt alle sorger og savn” (when the boat comes with bananas, we will have forgotten all sorrows and needs), and the newspapers festively declared that bananas would be distributed to all children. Everyone was on edge with excitement for the occasion.
My father who (like many kids) had never tasted a banana was swept up in the moment of it all, and decided it was the one thing he wanted for his birthday
“Jeg vil så gerne have en banan” (I so want to have a banana) he exclaimed to his mom, having no idea what that actually meant
As it turns out that first million load of bananas didn’t last long and most of Denmark, including my father would have to wait another seven years (!) until 5th May of 1952 for the next, real delivery and a taste of the exotic fruit, this time by truck from the Belgian Congo via Antwerp. They remained an expensive and exclusive item for years after, but at least Danes could finally buy bananas again.
And my dad’s experience? He did eventually get his wish, a single banana for his birthday, hidden away in a drawer and presented with great fanfare. But unfortunately it was completely green and “didn’t taste like much”, as he not-so-fondly recalls. He much prefers the ripe, yellow version these days…
**What about that coffee? For those who are curious, Danes drank something called Richs during the war, which was basically roasted corn & chicory that (apparently) tasted rather horrible, and nothing-at-all like the original. So when the first REAL coffee came to Denmark after the occupation, 6,200 sacks from Santos, Brazil delivered by boat on the 1st December of 1945, over a thousand people gathered at the port to receive it, together with a full orchestra and a live radio transmission of the occasion. Can you imagine THAT excitement??!
Other Banana Things
The other bananas that we dealt with this week was the craziness of French paperwork, a topic that I touched on in last week’s blog post.
On Friday Paul went in for his Carte De Sejour (residence card) renewal, which is always a stressful procedure in the best of times, and even more during a pandemic.
Thankfully all went well. The Préfecture had put new rules in place to control the crowds, only letting folks in by appointment one-by-one, including a recommendation that everyone wear masks. And the inch-worth of paperwork that I printed for the occasion (yes, I took a pic) was deemed adequate, Dieu merci.
Now, we just need to wait 6 weeks or so to pick up the card.
And Local Fruits
Tomorrow all things move forward. France is opening up it’s borders to it’s fellow EU neighbors, and a new phase of our COVID-19 déconfinement begins. I’m still not sure how I feel about all this or how it’s all going to progress (the virus is still out there), so we’re planning to stay more or less local at least for now, concentrating on smaller RV trips and enjoying some of the other many fruits coming out way.
It’s not a bad plan, and not much of a sacrifice to be honest.
There are no bananas in our garden, but we’ve got a ton of other delicacies ripening oh-so-deliciously in the southwestern French sun, so it’s going to be a very productive season. From Asian Pears (that surprisingly, grow really well here) to wild cherries (all over the place), grapes and mirabelle plums (a ton of them, coming soon), apples (due in fall), figs (which grow like crazy in the SW), and even almonds (also a late harvest), there are lots of fruits coming our way. At this rate we’ll be busy making jams, cakes and many other goodies for months to come, and that’s not a bad thing.
We’ll do our best to keep local, but I may still get side-tracked by a few French bananas along the way. It’s hard to resist that exotic delicacy when I see it, and I may need to try that banana cake recipe one or two more times, just to be sure I’ve got it right. A true scientist would do no less…
So my question for you this week, my dear readers (I do SO love hearing all your stories!); What fruit is the one you can’t live without? And what’s your favorite way to eat it. DO share!!!
Washington State Bing Cherries. I live to wash a handful and sit and read a void while eating them.
Absolutely….LOVE the PNW cherries. Miss them terribly.
Nina
Nectarines. Juicy and dribbling down my chin. Well, now that I’m older and plumper, my chins.
Nectarines are very good, very good indeed.
Nina
Very interesting, well developed quarantine article. I really enjoy reading your posts. You grab our attention, then take us for an interesting trip.
You’re absolutely correct John!
Another fabulous post Nina!! I know a while back you had said you were not sure whether you would find enough interesting things to write about now that you guys aren’t travelling as much, so I for one am SO glad you decided to keep blogging anyway, as I truly LOVE all of your posts, and have so enjoyed all the recent ones! Love your thoughts on all your subject matters, and your photos are amazing!
We are finally putting plans in place to depart Australia mid November, with a winter let in Portugal, before picking up our new motorhome (which is very similar to your Cathargo) in SW France next April. Hopefully we can meet up for a glass (or bottle) or two of nice French wine then! Sarah
You know I really had NO IDEA if I’d be able to continue writing here in France. In fact, I still wonder from week to week if I’ll find anything to say, and yet I manage to surprise myself. Hopefully it keeps going.
Best of luck w/ your up-coming winter plans. Portugal in winter should be divine. And we’ll gladly take you up on that glass of wine when you pass thro’ the SW next spring.
Nina
I love your pictures. Great info about the bananas. My favorite fruit is Blueberries along with Strawberries. Then Apricots in season. I do eat an apple most days.
Blueberries are another of my fav fruits. We don’t really see them here in SW France, but I used to LOVE them in the PNW, and in Maine where they have the small ones. Such a great, deep, rich fruit.
Nina
Wonderful personal history related to bananas. My wife makes banana bread from them when the brown spots appear. Favorite fruit is Oregon Stawberries. Love mixing them with Rhubarb to make pie. Then add vanilla ice cream. Yum!
I haven’t had rhubarb in years. My mom always used to grow it in the garden, and there are a slew of good, danish recipes that use them. I’m going to have to see if I can hunt some down here.
Nina
You are a hoot and thanks so much for the banana lore! Growing up on St Croix plantains were always available but ironically our bananas were imported from the states!!
By the way, I read a book some years ago you might enjoy. It’s called Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. All about the ratios we use in cooking.
I haven’t been commenting a lot lately but I do SO enjoy and look forward to your posts. Though now it takes me a while to remember I am not, in fact, back in France and then deal with the sadness that invokes.
Deep red Oregon and Washington cherries are my addiction. Even if the first batch of the season at the store are not red or ripe, I buy a pound and eat them all in 2 days. I have to stay close to home ( if you know what I mean) but I don’t mind. Then a little later, my farmers market gets the most beautiful Bings and I buy 5 pounds at once. Cherry clafoutis, cherry pie in sour cream crust, and cherry vodka martinis to die for. I must say bananas are no big deal to me but I put them in a blender with cherries and orange juice and ice for breakfast smoothies that are divine! Love the pictures of your property. I love France and am itching to visit again. PS My hyperthyroid cat is still going strong thanks to your advice.
Oregon cherries….oh my! YES, we used to buy them in bulk whenever they were in season there, and then eat ourselves silly. We have cherries here in our garden, but they just don’t compare.
SO HAPPY your kitty is doing well 🙂
Nina
I always enjoy your posts, Nina. I never know what I might learn next.
As for fruits, I love dark red cherries (if only the season wasn’t so short), and red grapes. But bananas, well, bananas are a daily must-have in our house. Pipa LOVES them each morning, so between her, our baked oatmeal, and green smoothies, we panic if we run out of bananas. It’s a regular grocery run for us.
Cherries, any way shape or form! Loved your Denmark stories.
I love Satsuma mandarins! They are a perfect duo of tart and sweet and so juicy. There are no seeds and they are very easy to peel. They are ripe here, Northern California, around December. We go to the farms and buy 10 pound bags. They are something we look forward to every winter.
Mandarins…YES! I’ve never been a huge fan of oranges, but I’m ALL IN for mandarins. In Asia we used to be able to buy some tiny, super-sweet ones. Love them.
Nina
That banana cake recipe sounded so good I almost kept it before remembering I don’t bake anymore. 🙂
My very odd favorite fruit is cold, canned peaches. I was very sick with the Asian Flu for a whole month at age ten and my fevered body loved those cold, canned peaches my mother fed me. When our daughter was born I was restricted to flat on my back when supper time came and I had not eaten since supper the night before so when my nurse offered to feed me cold, canned peaches I was very grateful. I still like them 50-60 years later.
Canned peaches…now that really does bring back a few childhood memories. We never ate much canned stuff, but every now and then we had ice cream with canned peaches, and I still remember that yummy sweet syrupy taste.
Nina
A tough question. Our travels usually take us through Bakersfield CA in February. Stay at the Orange Grove RV Park. Oranges so sweet and delicious it’s like sipping ambrosia.
In northwest Montana there is Flathead Lake. Along the eastern side of the lake they grow Flathead Cherries. These are large, have a wonderful flavor and I can’t get enough of them.
Here in the Olympia WA area there are several farms that grow Strawberries. Sweet, juicy, delicious. Strawberry Shortcake with wiped topping, Strawberry Pie, Fresh Strawberry Jam. So far this month we have made two batches of jam and sliced and frozen enough berries to make two more batches.
In August the Peaches are arriving from Yakima. Peach juice running down my chin and peach cobblers and pies.
The fruit in the PNW was always one of my FAVORITE things when we spent our summers there. Such yummy memories.
Nina
Oh Nina. I have been following your blog since 2012. This week in honor of my mom I decided to make banana bread. She lived till 98 and would have been 106 this birthday. She always told the story of coming from Poland on the ship from Copenhagen from her small farming community outside of Warsaw in 1922. She was 8. She had her first banana ever on the ship and immediately became ill. Not from the fruit but from the sea sickness due to being in steerage…She hated bananas because of that horrible voyage until after I was born because I adored and demanded them. . She made the best banana bundt cake and we were never without them. It is amazing to me that you wrote about banana bread this week as I have not made it in 25 years. I think I have a symbiotic relationship with you and your adventures. We are RVers and love it due to you and Paul. After traveling all over the US, we sold our 2002 Fleetwood Discovery and just bought a 2020 Fleetwood Pace Arrow and plan on taking her to Alaska next summer via Canada to get out of southwest Florida for the summer to salmon fish. You have been a wealth of info to us for 8 years. Please keep the blogs coming. Your writing and photos are amazing. Coming from this former English teacher, you could be a great book author in your future life. I will be the first to buy your book….RV travels with Paul, Rand, Taggert, Polly and the Beast and Little Beast. Thank you for brightening our days during this difficult time.
What a wonderful story, and I love that I could add to your memories in my small way. ENJOY your trip to Alaska…we never made it there in the RV, so it’s still on our list.
Nina
French gluten doesn’t offend?
So interestingly enough, since we moved to France I’ve been slowly introducing gluten back into my diet, and it seems I’ve become more tolerant of it (?). I’m not sure if it’s the french flour that makes a difference (I buy local stuff, and do use older grains such as spelt) or just the fact that my body has become more accepting, thanks to all those years gluten-free. I still bake quite a lot of gluten-free items, but I’m happy I can tolerate some of the regular stuff again.
Nina
Wonderful Nina. I think it’s just age….Dave’s lactose problems have all but gone. His tolerance changed slowly, almost without him noticing, and now he can pretty much eat what ever he wants!
Yay!
Hi Nina! I can’t live without strawberries! Ours are starting to ripen and they are fantastic! I’m always sad when our strawberry Growing season is done by the end of June. You have an orchard! Lucky you!on Memorial Day Weekend Governor relaxed quarantine restrictions here in Kentucky. It’s been a nightmare here! Sadly we have a large group of radical white supremacists that held a protest in front of the State Capital that included idiots (sorry that’s what I consider them) with loaded AR-15 Rifles strapped around them. That protest ended up on the porch of the Governor’s Mansion in front of the window where his young children play. Then these same idiots hung an effigy of our Governor in the tree outside the mansion. Sickening! All this because they wanted to open all the churches and other places. FINE representation of Christians right there! Anyway, due to pressure from the State Republicans and DC, he had to relent and start opening. Guess what! Our positive numbers are spiking very quickly. I’m just hanging here at home on the farm and enjoying my safety. Have a great week!
Bananas were effectively unknown in East Germany (and other former Soviet countries) until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The West Germans had a theory about the East Germans. Bananas have quite a high potassium content which is a mild antidepressant. So the West Germans used to say the East Germans were a miserable bunch because they had no bananas. If one was a West German visiting relations in East Germany, then the instruction was always to load up the car boot/trunk with bananas. The bottom layer was smuggled laptops, then your baggage, then lots of sugar which was in short supply and then a deep layer of bananas. The understanding was that the Communist border guards could help themselves to some bananas. Then they ignored everything else.
Thank you so much Nina for another interesting post. I really enjoy finding these gifts in my In Box which I feel is so much more needed in these historic times.
My favorite fruit dish which I regularly make for my 92 year old mother and me is banana pancakes. I dice them and fry the pancakes in butter then serve with maple syrup and a side of thick sliced bacon or sage sausage patties for a deliciously sweet and savory start of the day. All washed down of course with home brewed coffee (usually dark Italian blend) courtesy of Mr. Starbucks:).
Banana pancakes are a fond food memory for me though they were a rare treat since we voracious kids (I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters:) rarely left bananas around long enough to get over-ripe and ready for the breakfast table. Now that I think about it, I wonder if Mom didn’t just hide a bunch from us every now and then so they would be available for those special Saturday morning breakfasts. And now that it’s just Mom and me I routinely cook this scrumptious treat so it is no longer a special occasion but a regular and delicious remembrance of days gone by.
I agree with one of the other commenters and think you might write a book or maybe put together an anthology of your posts and create a different type of travel book. I know I would definitely enjoy it.
And as they say, familiarity breeds contempt so I hope you and everyone in our shared travel family remembers to remain vigilant and healthy by staying safe and sane as there is still no vaccine for the virus and it is still loose in the wild!
I’m such a fruit fan…raspberries are my favorite, but I adore Rainier cherries when I can find them, and watermelon or, perhaps even better, mini-watermelon is an absolute joy! And with most fruits, I find raw and as is does delightfully, though recently I got organic Meyer lemons (another fave) and made a delightful cake with them, with layers of sliced lemons where you’d normally have frosting!
Oregon Marionberries! Warm pie & vanilla ice cream are the best. Also love just picked perfectly ripe peaches. We’re headed back home to Oregon for a few months and hope to enjoy both!
Wild Maine Blueberries which we pick during our hike to Conners Nubble in Acadia National Park!! Our favorite way to eat them is fresh, while enjoying the spectacular view! If we can pick enough, our next favorite is Wild Blueberry Pie with just a touch of true vanilla ice cream!! Unfortunately, that won’t be happening this summer, but that will only make it even more special NEXT summer:o)))
Hi Nina,
Love your post as always. Since we went to the PNW 2 years ago, I’ve been addicted to the bing cherries from Washington. They are so yummy from up this way. I also love the mandarin oranges in Socal. So yummy and easy to eat. I bake banana bread about once every couple of months…my honey loves it.
Cheers and keep up the good work!
Blackberries! I started buying local and in season a couple of years ago. We are teaching our grand that everything has a season and we look forward to it instead of having everything at our fingertips. I find I do look forward to different foods when the season arrives. This includes salt water taffy from Trader Joes…ha! We are waiting for it…coming soon!
Beautiful photo of Polly! Cake looks yummy!!
Black Mission and Brown Turkey figs, eaten out of hand.
If you want to take your banana bread/cake to a new level substitute an equal amount of hot (not boiling) strong black coffee for the liquid in the recipe. The best of post WWWII cooking.
Hi, Nina! I love the story about your father. btw, I made banana bread for the first time ever. Have now made it three times (the last two had sour cream, chocolate chips and pecans – decadent). I love mangos and papayas (what do you expect from a tropical girl). Hector LOVES the baby bananas (Cubans call them platanitos manzanos). Fortunately, we have access to all of those now but here they are available seasonally not all year. I wasn’t much of a raw fruit person in the states but I do like strawberries. I love peaches in salads, salsas and pies and I love berries in jellies and jams. And I got addicted to huckleberry ice cream in Glacier National Park. Hugs to both of you! Stay safe.
My husband and I had a Santa Rosa plum tree in our back yard here in Sothern California. Those plums were so very delicious! Everyone loved receiving a bag of those plums!