The International Banana Museum

I stumbled over this today and just had to share - this guy REALLY loves Bananas!

Fred "Banana Mon" Garbutt is bananas. He's the curator of the International Banana Museum in Mecca, Calif. Not sure it's worth the trip to Mecca? Included in the museum's loot: banana nail polish, banana handbags and banana phones. Garbutt bought the original collection from another banana collector on eBay and converted his bar into this paean to his favorite fruit. He claims to have 17,000 banana-themed objects, enough to land him in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest collection devoted to any single fruit. So keep your eyes peeled, this isn't just a bunch of yellow junk!

and further details on another link (I'm assuming that this is the same place?): The International Banana Museum

I originally found this on msn, here : MSN Link

some little things..

I've had a week off work recently, so have had some nice down time and a chance to kick back. Several Banana type treats have been consumed over the period, so here's a little breakdown..

Ma Baker Giant Banana Bars

Ma Baker Giant Banana Bar

 I'm starting this blog post with my ultimate nemesis over recent weeks. Had I not been cycling to work and back daily, this bar would have completely destroyed my diet. As it happens, at 391 calories of what it nearly my perfect banana and oats bar, I still had to do a bit of extra exercise most days, as I was eating more than one a night after randomly buying a box of 20 through Amazon. Without a doubt, to date, this is my favourite banana snack bar of all time. It has the banana and oat combination taste which works incredibly well and at 90g is a decent size and quite filling.

Do try one of these if you find it anywhere, they're just lovely!

Nākd Nibble Banana Bread

Nākd Nibble Banana Bread

I'm quite into a bit of healthyish baking, so on a shopping trip I found myself in the Gluten Free section of Sainsbury's. There was a box of these nākd nibble banana bread bars, so in the interests of banana lovers everywhere I took it upon myself to experiment with this new find.The bars are quite small (nibble sized), but are absolutely completely bananaery and delicious! At only 92 calories for each 30g bar, they're not a diet killer either.. though unfortunately, they're also very moorish so you have to be careful not to overindulge :)

These are highly recommended and delicious!

Cioccolato Di Modica Alla Banana

Cioccolato Di Modica Alla Banana

Walking around Rome in the middle of the night, I stumbled (almost literally) into a small artisan pasta shop with this lovely expressive Italian lady shop owner. Thankfully her English was considerably better than my Italian (non-existent), so she showed me her pastas, sauces, etc. explaining the origin and history of each of the products I showed an interest in.. then in the corner of my eye I caught the unmistakeable image of a banana.. of course, I just had to add a couple of these (rather expensive) chocolate bars to my list of purchases. She didn't recommend this to me at all, but the lure of the Banana was too strong and I had to have some. I didn't get a hint of Banana in the flavour of this, which was somewhat disappointing, but the ingredients list certainly did have banana in it. Perhaps the bitterness of the dark chocolate was too strong to support the 'subtle' taste of the Banana? I probably won't buy it again (at the same price), but I'd be interested in trying it again in other circumstances. I'm betting, however, that the pasta and sauces I bought (at her recommendation) will be wonderful!

Chef Bernie's Banana Ketchup

Chef Bernie's Banana Ketchup

I went to the West Dean Chilli Fiesta in August this year with a couple of friends and took great delight in trying samples of many of the different Chilli Flavoured sauces on offer. I was giving it a bit of bravado after being a joint winner of a local Chilli eating competition not too long before this. Admittedly, in between events I hadn't had an awful lot of chilli in my food, having had more than enough in the short time sitting on the stage destroying my taste buds with millions of scoville units of raw chilli.

Quite early on at the Chilli Fiesta I was trying some Chilli sauces near the entrance and there was a small bowl of Chef Bernie's Banana Ketchup on display. Of course.. I had to try it, and try it again, and try it again! (In fact I spent most of the Chilli Fiesta trying numerous Chilli/Banana combo's - some more of which will be mentioned in a later post). WOW! It was fantastic.. It was so good that I bought the entire range of Chef Bernie's sauces, which I am still working my way through and enjoying every moment of it.. Hands up.. the Banana Ketchup is finished and I need more, and soon! You can check out the full range of Chef Bernie's products by following this link.

Soreen Banana Malt Loaf

I was recently reminded of the Soreen Banana Malt Loaf, something that I recall trying not long after it was first released in the UK. I seem to remember that I enjoyed it at the time, so was pretty happy when I was given the reminder via a facebook post. What could possibly go wrong? It's made by Soreen who make the delicious staple that is the Malt Loaf, that I have enjoyed for years, with the added bonus of Bananas! What a great combination.. or so I thought..

I got myself one on a recent shopping trip and eagerly tore open the wrapper when I got home. The first sign of disappointment was immediate.. instead of a beautiful Load of Banana Malty yumminess, I was greeted with a sunken & burnt facsimilie. Clearly something had gone badly wrong in the bake somehow and the Soreen Quality Control had failed badly. The taste was alright (well, I had to try some), but it looked completely unappetising, so much so that I actually made an email complaint to Soreen. I should point out that I have never gone this far before, but I really was that disappointed.

After a short email exchange, it was explained to me that the likelyhood was that there had been a problem on the production line and it was possible that the loaf that I had purchased was probably stuck in the oven when the line was stopped, leading to the burnt appearance (I'm not sure how this led to the cake sinking like a bad soufflé, but I'm no chef). This explanation and a couple of vouchers recompense and I thought I all would be well with my next purchase.

As it happens, my housemate, on a shopping trip, picked me up two more as he felt sorry for me after the problems with the first one. These ones were much better in appearance compared to the first one, they weren't sunken for a start and although the top was darker than I would have expected I was anticipating some gooey loveliness.. again, disappointment reigned.. both of these loaves weren't so much gooey as dry. I tried them with both peanut butter and almond butter, but it wasn't enough to save them, so I'm afraid I will, for now, consign them to the nice idea box and perhaps give them another go when my luck turns. That said, I am rather more enamoured with the results of my own Banana Loaves, which have been delicious.. perhaps it was unfair to try these so soon after baking my best ever home made Banana Loaf? ;-)

To balance this out a little, other people have found the Soreen Banana Malt Loaf to be really nice - here's an alternative viewpoint : Porridge & Parsnips Blog (scroll down a bit for Lucy's positive opinion).

Banana Whey & Walnut Protein Balls

With another recipe inspired by the @proteinpowdr Blog, namely the Whey Protein Bars at Bigger Stronger Faster entry. I started with the base ingredients, then went a slightly different route.The departure on ingredients was mainly due to the availability I had of nuts, a lack of chocolate and lots and lots of dessicated coconut at my disposal. I could quite easily have made this using Almonds, as I have a pretty large supply (and Almond Milk), but I thought I'd save them for another more banana packed recipe in the near future.

Whey Protein & Nut Balls

I only wanted to make a simple recipe today and this completely fell into the remit, with no cooking required whatsoever. Just mix up all the ingredients and you're done.. what could be easier? All you need to do is get all the dry ingredients mixed into a bowl and slowly, bit by bit, add the milk until you get a decent consistency that will allow you to form the mix into solid shapes, but still a little moist (you wouldn't want to eat it if it was completely dry, I'm sure). Rolling in coconut was my decision for a coating, but you could almost as easily add some melted dark chocolate as a luxurious shell.. I might do that next time, actually.. it does sound pretty good.. 

I had fancied making some Protein Pancakes this morning, but was out of eggs, so went this route instead.. Eggs now available again, so perhaps tomorrow for that.. though I am also thinking about making a Banana Pizza - seriously! There is loads of evidence of Banana Pizzas around the Internet & if I can get the base right, then we could be onto a winner there - I had seen a Banana Pizza whilst on holiday in Iceland earlier in the year, but it used a strong smelly cheese that turned me off it - shame.

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats (Ground is best, but you can use a food processor to grind normal oats to a powder)
• 1 cup of Banana Whey Protein Powder
• 8 tbsp Coconut Flour
• 100ml Kara Coconut Milk
• 150ml Alpro Hazlenut Drink
• 50g (roughly) of Walnut Halves (would have used Hazlenuts, but none left :))
• Dessicated Coconut to decorate/cover

Method

• Put the oats in a food processor and blend until they resemble a powder (or just use Ground Oats)
• add the Banana Whey Powder (obviously you can choose any flavour)
• add the Coconut Flour
• Slowly add as much milk as you need to get the right consistency, with the blender still going round. In this case I found that 250ml worked pretty well for me. You may find that you need to stop from time to time to free up some of the sticky mix to get it to mix better, but it also gives you a chance to assess if you need to add more milk, or not
• Add the nuts and blend a little longer, until the nuts are properly distributed through the mix
• roll small balls of mixture in your hands then cover in Dessicated Coconut as an outer layer. The original recipe called for a chocolate shell, but I wasn't feeling it today :) - you can shape it how you want to - today just felt like a 'balls' day :)
• Put onto a plate and refrigerate for an hour or so

Protein Banana Bread Gone Bananas

As part of my attempt to move into eating healthy food, but without losing out on too many treats I'm discovering the joys of cooking with Protein Powders. This is not something that I would have considered previously, but slowly I became exposed to Whey Protein Powders as a way to help improve my health and help me lose some weight, and from that I discovered several sites where Cooking with Protein Powders was the focus. Again, the primary site was Protein Pow(d)er and it's from there that this recipe comes from.

Protein Banana Bread Gone Bananas

There's only a few differences between the recipe I made and Anna's original, all of which she commented on in her original article. Firstly I used Walnuts, instead of Brazil nuts, the reason for this was that I ate the Brazil Nuts yesterday :). Secondly, I used Anna's 'Buried Banana' trick to add even more of a direct banana effect to the recipe - It worked! Thirdly, I used Kara Coconut milk instead of normal milk :-)

Ingredients

• 2 Medium bananas (plus one for the buried banana effect)
• 22g Coconut Flour (first time I've used this - It's fantastic and smells lovely)
• 3 whole eggs
• 1 egg white
• 46g Oats
• 54g Banana Whey (My favourite Whey Protein Powder Flavouring, natch)
• 105ml milk (I used Kara Coconut Milk)
• 8 Walnuts (or 16 Walnut Halves ;-) - Obviously, you can choose different nuts too)
• 1tbsp Baking Powder

Method

• Mix/Blend all the ingredients together
• Pour into a Loaf Tin (or a Silicone Loaf 'tin' is my preference)
• Put in the oven at 160DegC (or 140DegC for Fan assisted ovens) for 40mins+ - mine took 50mins before my knife came out clean, proving that the loaf was properly baked
• Cool on a wire rack and it'll be ready to slice and serve when cooled

Please do check out Anna's site - There's more there than just Banana recipes (and I do try some of the others too!).

Trying new things..

Things have been a little quiet on here of late, as not only have I been a bit busy, but I've also been trying out a number of Whey Protein based recipes, none of which I have been entirely satisfied with so far. I really want to get a Banana Protein Pancake recipe perfected, but (as is the case with Whey Protein cooking) the end result tends to be quite dry, so not really something I'd want to share.. nor would it be something you'd want to eat - trust me. The main protagonist at the moment is a Banana and Coconut Protein Pancake which looks and sounds great.. I've nearly got it, but not quite yet.

In the meantime, I should probably share some of my recent banana type discoveries. Number One, and one that I was planning on saving for later, or indeed may now come back to properly at a later date. Banana Beer! I've tried a number of beers and spirits that are Banana based or Banana flavoured and the best that I have found is Mongozo Banana Beer - It's delicious! Nuff Said!

I took that photo on a recent trip to The Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. It's only the second time I've had Mongozo Beer, the first time was in a pub in London and I quite happily sat there for a few hours just supping away and enjoying the company of my friend (who went through several of the other Mongozo beer varieties).

Mongozo have recently won several awards which underlines the care and attention that goes into their brewing process. Check this list:

• Best Gluten Free Beer of the World - World Beer Awards 2012
• Double Gold Winner - International Beer Competition, BIRA 2011
• Belgium's Best Tasting Pilsner - Horeca Expo 2010

If you like Bananas and like Beer - give it a go.. You can also buy a crate of it from Amazon if you're game :) You can also buy a sample pack of fruit beers from the +Eden Project themselves: Mongozo Fruit Beer Trio Pack which is part of their online webshop.

Other things I've tried recently.. and it pains me to publish this.. Banana Baby foods.. Yes, go on.. have a go - I'm an adult and I'm trying baby foods. In my defence I needed something Banana flavoured and the only thing I could think of at the time was that baby food tends to be heavily banana based, whereas we as adults tend to miss out after the formative years. I have tried three different ones recently and have some more saved up. I won't cover Farley's rusks, as I've not eaten any of them for a couple of years and the fact that I haven't means that they weren't bananaery (sp?) enough for me. Here's what I tried:

• Plum - banana & apricot oaty porridge
• Little Angels - Apple, Banana & Mango 
• Heinz - Mum's Own Recipe Banana Yoghurt

Of the three, the only one I actually enjoyed was the Mum's own recipe banana yoghurt, the others.. well.. let's simply say that they don't cater for the adult palette.. which, of course, they're not intended to..

Banana Protein Latte

I cannot possibly recommend this enough. The taste of even the most basic attempt at this is so good and beats a lot of proper flavoured drinks available in coffee shops.. and of course, it is so much better for you than a sugary flavoured syrup in your coffee!

Taking my inspiration, as always, from the Protein Pow blog, I got turned onto the idea of making a Banana Protein Latte. As usual, I don't have all the ingredients that Anna has, so I compromised a bit and still ended up with delicious banana flavoured results :-)

Anna has a recipe for a Banana Cream & Coconut Protein Latte, which sounds delicious with Coconut Milk and other goodness. I will be trying Anna's full recipe at some point, in the meantime this is a simple compromise, which probably needs a little more stirring and effort to get right.

Ingredients

• One cup of freshly brewed black coffee
• One serving (to taste) of Banana Protein Powder

Method

• Make a cup of coffee (I prefer some fresh percolated coffee for this)
• add the protein powder
• stir until mixed in properly

Now, one issue with the way I do this is that I get a little clumping of the powder, which requires a little extra work to blend properly with the coffee. This can be abated by doing a little at a time, or using a fork to stir the powder into the coffee. Whatever happens, the result is gorgeously banana flavoured and full of protein goodness :) - I have used anything from 15g to 35g of Banana flavoured Whey Protein powder per mug of coffee and it has always delicious. Obviously, I'm drinking some now and am about to have a little bit more..

Of course, Whey Protein is made from milk, so is perfect in coffee, IMHO [Wikipedia]

EDIT: I have been recommended to try a coffee frother to help with the clumping issue, so will be investigating that later :-)

Banana Protein Fluff

My favourite food based blog and one which I fully intend to try more recipes from, be they Banana based or not, is the Protein Pow Blog. The reason I started following this blog was entirely accidental, as I had recently bought a lot of Banana Protein Powders, being as how I was on a fitness drive, and was looking for some Banana Smoothie recipes. I found some on Anna's blog and oh so much more :)

The simplest recipe that Anna provided was the Banana Protein Fluff recipe, which also formed the basis for a Banana Ice Cream, too. This depends entirely on whether you can bear to wait for it after putting it into the freezer, or want to eat it straight away. I now have a plentiful supply of frozen banana slices sitting in the freezer for whenever I desire, which means I get a lovely fluff.

more Banana Protein Fluff

Now Anna has a few ingredients that she recommends, though I've not actually managed to get them in the same place at the same time, but that doesn't matter, as the recipe is a guide to an unimaginably easy and lovely treat regardless. Anna uses a frozen Banana, unsweetened Whey Protein powder and some coconut milk. Well, I have a Banana (Frozen is best, but not required), Banana Protein Powder and some skimmed milk.

Ingredients

• one medium frozen banana
• one scoop of banana protein powder (you don't have to, but I do like bananas)
• 30ml of skimmed milk

Method

• Put all the ingredients into a food processor and whisk until it's light and fluffy

yes - it's that easy.. I haven't managed to take the fluff out of the processor and into a bowl yet, I just use a spatula and eat right out of the food processor bowl - absolutely delicious! Thanks Anna!

Next time I make it - I'll add my own pic to this - the pic above is from the Protein Pow Blog! :)

EDIT: In the comments of her blog, Anna linked to the following Youtube video showing how to make the same recipe with Berries - you can use any fruit, really - experimentation is key - good luck! :)

Banana and Walnut Biscuits

One of the first Banana recipes I actually cooked, following my recent Banana / Baking resurgence was a recipe that the Protein Pow blog retweeted. It was an easy re-entry to baking.. the only difficulty I had was in finding some Oatbran, which I eventually found in a Sainsbury's Superstore.. once that final ingredient had been obtained, there was no stopping me. I've done this twice in the last few weeks, subtlety modifying the recipe the second time by adding some peanut butter with the idea of making it a bit sweeter for my housemate (who has a bit of a sweet tooth). That said, he didn't actually eat any, as he's on a bit of a health kick at the moment and couldn't spare the calories - yum! more for me :)

Miss Millie's Banana & Walnut biscuits

Ingredients

• 4 overripe Bananas - I actually keep adding more bananas as they're rarely ripe enough
• 120g Oatbran
• 100g Crushed Walnuts
• 2 tbsp Cinnamon

Method

• Mash the bananas (I did it by hand - lovely)
• Mix all the other ingredients in with the bananas (yes, it is this easy)
• Cover and leave the mixture for 15-20 minutes to allow the Oatbran to absorb the Bananas/Moisture. This allows the mixture time to thicken
• Bake at 180DegC on a lined baking tray for approximately 15 minutes

Here are a couple of pics of my first batch in progress :)

I didn't have any baking paper at the time, so I used foil on my first attempt - not the best idea as the mixture does stick to it.. best to buy some baking paper (as I did on my second attempt) and they just slide off :)

Finished plate

I'd already had a couple by the time I took this photo, they are really nommy. I love the flavour and texture that the Oatbran provides :)

Banana and Date Loaf (Lurpak)

I've still got lots of Bananas left and they're ripening up very nicely, which of course means that they'll give more of that Banana flavour when used in baking.. so, although I like the idea of making healthy food, I did have some butter left over from the weekend's baking antics, so went for this recipe from the Lurpak website.

Banana and Date Loaf

It was such a simple recipe, I just blitzed all the ingredients in the Food processor and poured them into a new Silicone Loaf 'tin' that I got this weekend, chucked the whole thing in the oven and waited. At the right time, and after a 'little' bit of cooling I had to have some - delicious! Probably the best pure Banana Loaf I have made to date.. most of the ones I normally try tend not to have added fat, so are more of a breakfast loaf. This one was pure dessert, *nom*.

Ingredients

• 125g Butter (Lurpak)
• 100g Sugar (Brown is the best) - I used some Demerera that I had in the cupboard
• 2 tbsp honey - I didn't actually add any honey as it was sweet enough for me
• 2 eggs
• 225g Self Raising Flour
• 3 Ripe Bananas
• 100g dates (chopped)

Method

1. Mix the butter & sugar together, add the honey and eggs. Mix well.
2. Add flour and mix again (I sieved the flour first)
3. Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the mix along with the dates
4. Add to a prepared loaf tin (greased/lined if you need to) and bake for 1 hour 15 mins at 160DegC
5. Let it cool on a wire rack, cut it into slices and dig in.

at some point I'll actually take some shots of the ones I made myself, so you can see how it turned out - warts and all.

Banana Vodka

Last week I went on something of a Banana frenzy, much to the consternation of anyone who knows me.. raising several questions as to my sanity and why Bananas. Any Banana lover understands of course, the attraction of the taste of Bananas on a regular basis. That said.. I did buy a LOT of Bananas and made several dishes with a Banana basis, eg.: Several Banana Smoothies; Banana and Oat Biscuits; Vodka Banana Milkshake Ice Lollies; Banana and Date Loaf; Banana Tart Tatin and the subject here, Banana Vodka.

I'm starting with this one, as it's so simple, though it takes some time to make it.. two days.. though to be honest, that's just waiting.

Having bought so many Bananas recently I was looking up new ways to use them up and came across a Youtube link.. and after watching, I just had to give it a go. I didn't make any measurements, just put two bananas and some Finlandia Vodka I had into a jug, put some clingfilm over it and left it in the fridge for two days. The end result was pretty good, though mellowed out over the day myself and some friends drank some at a BBQ. I was quite pleased when one of the girls at the BBQ searched me out to ask for more - that's a recommendation if ever there was one, in fact she has today asked me how to make it :). Next time, I think I'd try a less flavourful Vodka, to allow the focus to be on the bananas more, but I liked it and will definitely be doing it again.

Anyway.. here's the original video - enjoy: