Bananas

Long and thin in shape, with bright and yellow skin when ripe, their flesh is soft and white.

There are two varieties widely available in Australia - Cavendish (most common) and Lady Finger, which are small plump bananas with a sweet distinctive flavour.

How to buy

Choose bananas depending on when you plan to eat or cook with them - slightly green bananas ca be left to ripen for a few days, while yellow-skinned bananas with brown flecks are best eaten as soon as possible. Look for fruite with smooth skin and no splits.

How to store

Store bananas at room temperature until ripened to the desired extent. You can speed up the ripening process of any green bananas by placing them into a brown paper bag along with a ripe banana or apple (these fruit emit ethylene gas which will help to ripen other fruit).Hint: If Bananas have ripened further than the stage at which you like to eat them, freeze them without peeling. Their flesh will become slightly mushy but is perfect for use in cakes, muffins and smoothies.

How to cook

For a banana salad to serve with barbequed or grilled fish, combine sliced Cavendish bananas, roasted cashew nuts, desiccated coconut, lemon juice, finely chopped red chilli and coriander leaves.

To make a fresh banana smoothie, blend together 1 very ripe cavendish banana, peeled, 3/4 cup milk, 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt and 1 teaspoon honey. Dust with a little nutmeg before serving.

For a cool kids' snack, push paddle pop sticks into peeled cavendish bananas then freeze. For a special occasion, dip bananas in melted chocolate before freezing.

Make a quick sambal to serve with your favourite Indian curry. Coat slices of banana with lemon juice and then toss in desiccated coconut.

Go well with

Brown sugar or maple syrup, breakfast cereals, bacon, raisins, rum, lemons, coconut, fish, nutmeg, curry spices, honey, yoghurt.

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