Plantain is a crop from the genus, Musa, whose fruit is intended to be consumed only after cooking or other processing, rather than being eaten raw.
This is the season of plantain. It is advisable to take the full advantage of staple foods in season by exploring their goodness.
Nutritious plantain is firmer and has less sugar than its look-alike, banana. Plantains can be used for cooking at any stage of ripeness, and ripe ones can be eaten raw.
As the plantain ripens, it becomes sweeter and its colour changes from green to yellow, to black, just like bananas. Green plantains are firm and starchy, with a taste that resembles that of potato. Ripe plantain turns yellow and becomes softer and starchy, but sweet. Extremely ripe plantains have softer, deep yellow pulp that is much sweeter than the earlier stages of ripeness.
Plantain is known as ogede agbagba in Yoruba, abirika in Igbo, ayaba in Hausa, and abatina among the Ondo people.
If you want it in commercial quantity, the plantain markets at Ketu (known as Jakande) and Mile 12 are the best places to visit. It is cheaper there and you have a lot of choices.
According to Cynthia Omoh, a plantain seller at the Jakande market, “I get my own supply from Delta State and only sell wholesale. It is one food that sells very fast at any stage. Even the over-ripe ones that some people feel are spoilt are also useful, and I sell everything off.”
Uses as food
Depending on the region, plantain has different ways it can be used as food; but the beauty of it is that the leaves are also useful in cooking processes.
Boli (roasted plantain) is commonly seen at the roadsides of most cities. Irrespective of status, boli is a delicacy that can be eaten with groundnut or palm oil spiced with ‘scent leaf’ or utazi.
When it is ripe, soft and fried, it is known as dodo (in Yoruba), but if it is not ripe, it can be fried into chips (ipekere in Yoruba). In Osun State, the overripe plantain is seasoned with pepper and fried. This delicacy is very popular as dodo ikire.
In the same vein, there is kelewele, a Ghanaian snack, made with ripe plantain that is spiced and deep-fried in palm oil or vegetable oil.
Also, unripe plantain can be boiled, dried, grated and added to soya bean powder. This can be added to a baby’s meal for strong bones and general body development.
Fola Julius, a traditional healer, explained that aside the flavour, unripe plantain can be cooked with a little potash added to it. “This is what I recommend for my diabetic and hypertensive patients. It is also the best way for elderly people to eat plantain,” he added.
This unripe plantain is also used to cook pepper soup, with spices and fish added to get the best out of it. Plantain can also be steamed when it is ripe and eaten with palm oil.
“Ripe plantain is nutritious for infants at weaning,” Mabel Idiagbonya, a nutritionist, revealed.
She explained: “It is highly nutritious when you steam-cook it for infants and the elderly. Just mash it and add a pinch of salt to it.”
Some people eat ripe plantain raw because of its sweetness.
Plantains can also be dried and ground into flour. “When I mix a bit of it to my yam flour, it adds some taste to it. Having it at home in flour form preserves and complements other swallows for me,” revealed Femi Ogunleye, a housewife.
In Cameroon, boiled plantain is pounded into pudding (‘swallow’) and eaten with choice soup. Some claim that this meal gives Cameroonian footballers extraordinary strength in the field of play.
However, care must be taken when peeling unripe plantain because the sap from it and the bunch can stain clothing and hands and can be very difficult to remove.
It is believed by some people that when hot food is placed on plantain leaves, they stimulate appetite as they have a distinctive smell and add some form of flavour to the food.
The leaves are used to wrap moin-moin (steamed beans dish), eko/agidi/ekuru (maize moin-moin) and imek or ukpo ogede (plantain moin-moin).
The popular Ghanaian dish eaten with ground pepper, onions, tomatoes and fish, Fanti kenkey, is wrapped with dried plantain leaves.
