How Ripe Should Bananas Be For Banana Pudding? - Tasting Table (2024)

FAQs

How Ripe Should Bananas Be For Banana Pudding? - Tasting Table? ›

You want the bananas to be pretty ripe – they should be a deep yellow, and speckled with brown spots. Don't pick bananas that are overripe because they'll brown faster or turn mushy.

You want your bananas ripe, but not browning too much (like you'd look for in banana bread). Choose bananas that are slightly ripe; yellow with little brown specks. Lemon juice. The best way to avoid brown bananas is to toss them in a a little bit of lemon juice before laying them on top of the Nilla wafers.

The best way to tell if a banana is ripe is by color. An underripe banana will be light green or greenish-yellow in color, with very firm and starchy fruit inside. A ripe banana will be bright yellow, possibly with green tips (less ripe) or some brown spots peppering its peel (more ripe).

As long as the dessert has been properly stored in the refrigerator for three days or less, it should be safe (and delicious) to eat, even if the bananas are a little brown.

Bananas are a vibrant and versatile fruit that can be the simplest of snacks or a star in a variety of recipes. But no matter how you slice it, bananas taste the best when ripe. The rind should be bright yellow, firm to touch, and peel away smooth to reveal a sweet-smelling flesh on the inside.

Place bananas in a warm spot such as a sunny window or near a heating vent. Keep the bunch of bananas together. Their friends will help speed the process along. Depending on how green they are, and where on the banana ripeness spectrum you prefer them, they should ripen in 24 hours to 5 days.

Bananas are incredibly tasty and easy to eat. What's more, they're rich in many essential vitamins and minerals. Most people eat bananas when the fruit is yellow and ripe, but green unripe bananas are also safe to eat. However, some people dislike their taste and texture.

It certainly doesn't have an African heritage. Banana pudding's closest ancestor is the English Trifle, featuring layers of fruit, pudding, and shortcake (or in more modern versions, perhaps ladyfingers). The banana itself came out of Asia.

Yes, using real bananas in the pudding (and not just sliced in-between). Many traditional banana pudding recipes call for vanilla pudding mix, whole milk, bananas, and sweetened condensed milk.

Yes, you can enjoy this tasty chia seed banana pudding every morning.

How brown is too brown for bananas? ›

While it's okay if the banana peel is dark brown or even black, if the inside is too, then the fruit is beyond ripe and now on its way to rotten. Another sign that bananas have gone bad is if they start leaking any fluids. When in doubt, just toss the bananas out.

Refrigerating bananas will slow or stop the ripening process, preserving the fruit at its current state. This means that you should only refrigerate bananas once they've reached the precise level of ripeness you're looking for.

Harvest of bananas

Bananas for export markets are harvested at the pre-climacteric green stage. They must have sufficiently developed their shape in diameter and length. If harvested too early, the taste will not develop well. However if you wait too long, they will become overripe before reaching the consumer.

Don't use totally green bananas—they're not ripe yet! If you go for a yellow banana or you let them sit an extra day or two, there are still some ways you can slow down the banana browning. Lightly brushing the sliced pieces with fresh lemon juice will help, but it can also affect the taste of your dish.

Another thing to know is how to protect the banana slices from turning brown. The Test Kitchen found great success with orange juice. Covering the banana slices in this juice slowed browning and left the mellow, fruity banana flavor alone - something everyone in the Test Kitchen liked.