curriedrice

Hi - we are taking a crack at growing 'Misi Luki' and 'Cardaba' - as much as for fruit as well as for edible stalk, eating flowers and using the leaves for steaming.

Does anyone know which varieties have edible stalk and flowers?

Thanks,

Sid

lorax

All varieties have edible flowers, provided you prepare them correctly. Seeded varieties (in general) contain edible portions in the stalks, again, provided you prepare them correctly.

harveyc

I think Chong or somebody else gave me instructions one time about preparing the flower for cooking and they said some were better than others. If I recall correctly, Saba is one that is good.

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musaboru

Are all edible I guess. Although, even though they have access to dozens of varieties, Thais and Cambodians use Namwah almost exclusively for culinary purposes (aside from the fruit). It doesn't necessarily mean Namwah is the best, but its tried and true for them I would say. The heart of the pseudostem is used like a vegetable. The male flower buds, actually the whole blossom including the bracts, are used in soups, like fish soup for example. The leaves are use for steamed rice cakes (like zongzi) and for crafting. And its mainly Namwah that is used.

damaclese

Ensete Ventricosum base of the flowers as well as the Pedeals and the corm are all edible mostly the corm and pedeals are fermented then dried to make a kind of flower I'm told the bread is delicious hard to tell from a western stile iv never had it so i dont know for sure

I seem to rember a cuple of recipes for stuffed Banana flowers cooked in chicken broth and coconut milk that sounds good to me too im waiting for flowers to try it

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curriedrice

Looks like we'll be the guinea pigs! I spoke to a coworker who grew up on a banana farm and he said most bananas have a resin in the outer stalk, the inner or heart of a banana is usually tender. I think the experiment will to find out when to cut the stalk.

Thanks,

Sid

harveyc

Check out the tips, etc. at Cooking the Banana flower bud

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just j

i dont think the pstem is gonna taste very good leaves u can wrap stuff in like suschi or wrap meat like pork and the flower u can cook but i never tryed none of it but the fruit

curriedrice

This is classic poor people food that's not become everyday food.

Done right - its really tasty!

The reason people at the stalk was because its available. Here's a website which goes over how its done.

EatingAsia: The Whole Banana - Part 1

Sid