La Pianezza, a food company based in São Paulo, created several lines of products with the puree, including chocolate spreads, patés and tomato sauces. In articles, TikToks, Instagram posts and YouTube videos, people here gush about how to make it at home and extol its health benefits.
In the Dominican Republic, I grew up eating unripe bananas boiled or mashed and served with sauteed onions on top. When I moved to Ipanema, the beachfront Rio de Janeiro neighborhood, I wandered through health-food stores and immersed myself in a subculture lauding the benefits of eggplant flour (“helps with weight loss”), passion fruit flour (also “helps with weight loss”) and whey protein (“builds muscle”). Rows and rows of whey protein.
It was there, alongside the quinoa and chia seeds, that I saw the green bananas of my childhood marketed as a superfood. I’ve since learned green bananas have been a health fad here for years.
Prized for its neutral flavor, the puree is used by home cooks to make lighter versions of recipes such as brigadeiros, the beloved Brazilian treat traditionally made with condensed milk. It’s also added as a supplement to meals — either using the puree or a green-banana flour that can be blended into smoothies and sprinkled on top of fruit.
Still, it’s not a mainstream staple. “A lot of people know about biomassa, but it isn’t that common,” said Renata Alves, a nutritionist focused on maternal and child health in São Paulo. “In the fitness and even weight-loss world, you’ll see that here in Brazil — it’s more used for that.”
Green bananas are a source of resistant starch, meaning they feed the good bacteria in our gut, helping to alleviate digestive issues, lower cholesterol and boost your mood, nutritionists say. Because they’re so filling, they can aid in weight loss, too.
In Alves’s practice, she recommends green bananas as a gut-health booster for pregnant women and to help those with gestational diabetes prevent spikes in blood sugar, for example.
I follow a plant-based diet, and I often get hungry shortly after meals. I wondered if this could help.
“Try having a tablespoon at lunch and at dinner,” Tatiana Zanin, a nutritionist from São Paulo state who lives in Portugal, told me, suggesting I stir it into my meals. “In three to five days, you’ll notice a difference.”
Challenge accepted. Because eating raw unripe banana is about as enjoyable as chewing on raw potato, I set out to make the puree and answer two basic questions: Does it taste good in recipes? And does it actually make me feel different?
The first step: Picking the right bananas.
Green bananas aren’t the same as green plantains. “The regular banana that you peel and eat is the best one to make biomassa,” said Bela Gil, a plant-based chef and television host focused on nutrition in São Paulo.
The fresher and greener, the better. If the bananas have a yellow tinge, they’ll have a slightly sweet flavor. It also means the starches have started turning into sugars.
I bought a pound of the bananas at the organic farmers market, boiled them whole, peeled them and blended the hot flesh with water. Though recipes here often call for cooking the bananas in a pressure cooker, boiling them in a regular pot worked just the same. Still warm, the puree was thick and pourable. Chilled, it firmed into a gelatinous paste.
It kept fresh for about a week when refrigerated in an airtight container and for a month when frozen in ice-cube trays to use in smoothies.
Its flavor was indeed neutral, with a hint of plantain at the end. For weeks, I whisked it into salad dressings, melted it into stir-fries and stirred it into stews. I served it to my unknowing husband and friends. (They’ll thank me later.)
More than 4 pounds of green banana into my journey, I was impressed by the purée’s satiating power. Adding a cube to my morning smoothie kept me full for one or two hours longer than usual. When I mixed it into soup or beans, I felt the same way.
But when I tried using it as a base for recipes, I struggled with its gloopy texture and ended up with an unappetizing mushroom stew and underbaked cakes. Flavia Manchioni, a health coach and influencer from Curitiba, suggested I use the puree to make sweet mousses and savory dips instead.
“Those are the most practical ways to use it,” she said. “You’ll be able to include it in your day-to-day.”
I tried a simple dessert of green-banana puree blended with cacao, soaked cashews and muscovado sugar. Topped with mango, papaya and coconut flakes, it was a gorgeous dairy-free mousse that I’ll make again soon.
I whipped the puree with garlic and paprika for a vegan spread with the texture of mayonnaise, perfect for slathering on bread. I made no-bake peanut butter balls, great with coffee. I baked chewy oat-flour brownies, also great with coffee.
It wasn’t a life-changing few weeks. But having a batch of green bananas on hand means I can easily make more filling meals as well as vegan snacks and treats. And that certainly makes it a superfood to me.
Green Banana Cashew Sauce
Blended with cashews and tomato paste, green-banana puree turns into a versatile sauce. Straight out of the blender, the loose version can be drizzled atop roasted vegetables or used as a salad dressing. Refrigerated, it turns into a thick paste, ideal as a spread for sandwiches or wraps.
Make ahead: The cashews must be soaked for 2 hours before making the sauce. If treating the sauce as a dip, it needs to be refrigerated for 4 hours before serving to thicken.
Storage: The banana puree can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week. The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. It will thicken as it chills. To loosen, add a splash of water until the desired consistency is achieved.
Ingredients
FOR THE PUREE
- 1 pound unripe, very green bananas in their peel (about 3 bananas)
- 1 cup water, plus more as needed
FOR THE SAUCE
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) raw cashews, soaked in warm water for 2 hours, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup room-temperature water
- 1 cup (8 1/4 ounces) green banana puree
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste, preferably double-concentrated
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, or more to taste
- 1 large clove garlic, peeled
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, or more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt, or more to taste
Make the green banana puree: In a medium pot, cover the bananas with water to submerge them; the bananas will bob up and down. Set the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the water is at a simmer, and cook, uncovered, until the bananas soften, 35 to 40 minutes. While the bananas are still warm, peel them and transfer the flesh to a blender and add with 1 cup of water. Blend until creamy. Transfer the puree to an airtight container and refrigerate until needed (see NOTE). It should yield about 2 1/2 cups.
Make the sauce: In a blender, combine the cashews, water, 1 cup of the green banana puree, olive oil, tomato paste, lime juice, garlic, paprika, cumin and salt and blend until creamy, about 1 minute. Taste, and season with additional lime juice, paprika, salt and/or cumin, if desired.
If using as a sauce, serve immediately drizzled on top of vegetables, grains or beans. To thicken it into a spread or dip, transfer the sauce into an airtight container and refrigerate for about 4 hours, or until it is the texture of mayonnaise. Serve with crackers, toast or vegetables, or as a spread in sandwiches or wraps.
NOTE: After about 1 day of refrigeration, the green banana puree will stiffen and become more solid. To use it, measure or weigh out the necessary amount, then whisk in a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it is the desired consistency.
Nutrition Information
Per serving (1/2 cup)
Calories: 93; Total Fat: 7 g; Saturated Fat: 1 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 120 mg; Carbohydrates: 8 g; Dietary Fiber: 1 g; Sugar: 3 g; Protein: 2 g
This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.
From staff writer Emily Codik.
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