the new banana

In June 2008 I posted a bizarre email conversation my family had about bananas. Just over 2 years later, I find myself returning to the same subject. The email conversation thoroughly covers many banana issues - the appropriate ripening stage in which bananas should be eaten (green-yellow to yellow-green), the debate on what the brown spots are (flavor patches or mold?), the nutritional value of banana fiber as well as medicinal benefits to soothe mosquito bites.

But we neglected to mention the banana's important role in creating a perfect fruit smoothie. Bananas provide the cohesive element to make smoothies thick and creamy and therefore delicious.

I've recently re-instituted fruit smoothies as a summer staple. There was a brief hiatus when I ran out of frozen pineapple. My fresh fruit was getting less fresh and I didn't want to waste it. I took a risk and discovered that, as long as a banana was handy, I could have a decent smoothie just with pureed fresh fruit - no frozen elements or yogurt thickeners necessary.

It reminded me of my early years of marriage. I was still learning how to cook a good meal, and Abe and I ate a lot of questionable entrees. But the one thing that never failed was our rice cooker - fluffy, sticky rice every time, never burned. We cut out a blue and white ribbon and taped it to the rice cooker to designate it as Appliance of the Month.

I think I will cut out another ribbon and put it on our bananas (except that I just used the last 2 to make a strawberry-melon smoothie).