Body
Q:A lot of Latin and Caribbean recipes call for plantains. Sometimes the plantains in my supermarket are green and other times they are almost black. What color should I be looking for? How do I know if they are ripe?
A:
The wonderful thing about plantains is that they truly are a versatile food. As a plantain ripens, its high starch content changes to sugar. The answer to your question is that plantains are good at any stage; it just depends on what you want to make.
Plantains are a relative of the banana, but are bigger, less sweet and need to be cooked before they are eaten. Plantains also keep their shape when cooked, unlike bananas, which get mushy.
Green or "unripe" plantains contain a lot of starch and very little sweetness. Their starchy flesh is used more as a vegetable than a fruit. They can be used in soups, stews, and curries or boiled and mashed. The Cuban twice-fried plantain dish called "Tostones" uses green plantains.
The next stage of ripeness is when the skin is mostly yellow with a few black speckles. In this stage of ripeness, the plantain has lost some of its starch and is slightly sweet. Plantains at this stage can be thinly sliced and fried, mashed or they can be baked until tender and served with roasted meats.
When a plantain is totally ripe, the peel is almost completely black. Although these plantains might look past their prime, this is when their sugar content is the highest but the flesh is still nice and firm. It is at this stage that the plantain most resembles a banana. A ripe plantain can be used in savory or sweet dishes. I like to pan-fry them with some butter, rum, and brown sugar and serve over ice cream.
When buying plantains, they should be firm and not mushy or cracked. If you need ripe plantains and only have green ones, they ripen at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, in a few days.
