Bananas vs Plantains | Which To Use And Why 

When I was younger my mom accidentally got some plantains instead of bananas because they got mixed together. When I went to eat it it was nice and yellow but I was wondering why it was so hard, I figured it was some sort of super banana lol when I finally got it open and took a bite I was so horrified I threw it away and didn’t eat bananas for many years until I figured out what the hell that thing was lol.

Plantain is very common in West Africa, especially Nigeria & Cameroon. It's a staple to people in Southern Nigeria and sometimes called dodo.

Plantain has loads of nutrients. When I grew up in south west of India, we have these plants plenty in our backyard and we called them banana. We eat riped (not too mushy) ones just like a normal banana. Plantains are delicious and one is sufficient to fill your stomach if you don’t have a proper meal. I ate the “western banana” first time in Europe, it felt flavorless and mushy! Due to plantains long shelf life, I sometimes stock ‘em up too. Raw plantains are often cooked in that regions various delicacies. Next time you buy a plantain, pls do eat them well riped

I love plantains. One of my favorite dishes is frying them, and topping them with mexican cream and queso fresco. The mildness and creaminess of the cheese pairs really well and compliments the sweertness of the plantains.

I once went shopping for the nursery school where I worked as the manager sent me to buy some bananas for snack time. I grabbed a bunch of what I thought were bananas and took them to the checkout. The guy looked at me and said "These are not bananas. You want to buy bananas." He got the plantains, brought them back where they belonged and pointed at the bananas. I loved that he just knew I had made a mistake lol That was the day I discovered plantain 😁

I eat plantains raw as a staple. You do not need to cook them, just allow them ripen all the way until they begin to get mostly black on the outside and start to soften. The softer you let them get, they will be sweeter. And they are MUCH sweeter and tastier than cavendish (regular) store bananas.

Plantains are quite common in Kerala, India. In their raw state it can be sliced and fried into a crispy tasty chips. When ripe it can be steamed or fried in batter and consumed. Unlike other bananas like cavendish it takes longer period of time for plantain to ripen. When ripe the skin of plantain turns dark. In Asia there are many varieties of bananas available. My favorite is the red banana, it's very creamy and tasty.

Great info. I actually eat Dominican Mangu as a pre-work meal before my weight training workout. It's packed with potassium

Thank you for this detailed video. We don't have these in Southern Africa because we are in a drier climate.

Thank you for this video. Never in my life have I heard of plantains. I ordered and had groceries delivered a few days ago. I always order bananas but shopper obviously thought that these were regular bananas. I also bit into a raw one to taste and didn't like it. Now since watching your video I see that they can be cooked so now checking out recipes.

I normally just gobble the plantains raw well I have to ripen them up first but sometimes I also boiled them to be a substitute for rice just in case I'm in a tight budget

Thank you. This is a wonderful explanation.

I have eaten ripe plantain. You have to make sure it's fully ripened. There's also a type of banana that looks just like plantain and can even be fired like plantain. It's called, bullfrog banana, but I have only seen it in Jamaica, because that's where I was born and grew up. We also have a banana called honey banana, and another banana called, chine-banana, which was my favorite, but it must be fully ripened or else it will be lumpy.....some parts ripe and other parts with lumps/not fully ripe.

bruh, tried them a month ago and im so in love with them, dip them in melted coconut oil, 6min in the airfryer on both sides and gawd, poor some honey over and enjoy. i prefer the plantains from a local african store instead a simple grocery store tho.

That's funny you mentioned confusing bananas with plantains I got my first plantain cause I thought it was a banana

Plantain also tastes sweet when allowed to ripen well... and can be eaten like normal bananas.

Properly ripe plantains can be eaten raw (should take small bites and chew properly), and are tastier than bananas (personal perspective). Plantains are said to be ripe only when skin turns yellow and black spots starts appears on it.

Bananas and rice both originated in what is now Australia.

Thank you for sharing the differences between the two. I've heard that if plantains are green they are considered a vegetable; if they're ripe then they're a fruit. Is this true? If so, are there different baking/preparation methods?

Yeah I just had a plantain for the first time today, I cut it up and fried it, then salted. Wasn't sweet at all, tasted kinda like a potato lol I think mine wasn't ripe yet, it was really green but I thought it was supposed to be, haha I couldnt even peel mine by hand, had to use a knife 😅

Plantain banana is a king of bananas. In India , mostly in Kerala plantain banana is a very common and favourite fruit included in our daily diet. Even raw plantain banana powder is used for making porridge for babies. Which is very healthy. Raw plantain banana currys r good for diabetic patients. Eating ripe plantain banana can change our moods as it contain tryptophan amino acid which produces Serotonin hormone in our brain. Even steamed or boiled plantain banana taste very delicious, which is even prescribed by some Dr.s for people of any age group. It is a carbohydrate-rich supplement. Prevents from constipation and anemia. Overripe plantain banana is approx 8 times beneficial for building immunity Plantain bananas in all its different stages from raw to overripe, are beneficial from newborn to old-age. Not only this much, there r many more benifit of PLANTAIN BANANA, King of Bananas. Plantain banana chips r also very tasty but this is the only type when it is not so healthy.

I might try Puerto Rican, but the Puerto Rico here just want to eat Cuban & Mexican food! I do dance Salsa dancing, which seems to be a Puerto Rican & Cuban dances!

You can also boil plantains

🇭🇹 we eat lots of plantains everyday ❤❤❤ plantains

When they ripe you can steam cook them with some water once cooked add some sour cream they are delicious

The bites sound good. I like them cooked soft.

You're opinion, they are absolutely OK raw at the correct ripeness.

Walmart substituted plantains for my bananas, and now I’m here watching this. Thank you, I’m now glad I didn’t try to open one and eat it raw like a banana 😂

Colours turn from green to black?🤔 That got me a bit confused.... I thought there was yellow somewhere in between Or have I been hallucinating all along? I thought bananas/plantains turn yellow before turning black?

Sweet bananas, when overripe, can be frozen and saved and then thawed out for use in a banana loaf or cake or even cupcakes and muffins. The banana mush will look kind of gross, but once you blend it with all the other compnents you only get the sweet banana taste. No gross mouth feel.

Green unripe bananas are a good plantain alternative if you can’t get them. The only difference is the starch and no sugars JUST LIKE a plantain

Thank you for this video and the information. How do their nutritional values differ?

Try banana fry (Indian style) with plantain

Yeah, at 0:30 they gave me "pause" alright haha. I just got some today thinking they're bananas and was surprised. It said plantains on the sticker so im looking it up to see what these things are. Thank you.

Good

The plantain i got at walmart in iowa, was really ripe and tasty.

In India(Kerala mainly) we eat raw well ripe Plantain - when they start turning yellow to black. In that stage it can be peeled like a banana

Plantanos are called to tostones when you smash flat and fry. I miss Cuba!

Thanks, heard Colombia was a high plantain producing country, searched it on yt and this video told me everything. Now I know not to buy one or the other without knowing from a street vendor 😂

We call.plantain saba in the Philippines

thank you so much for sharing

I'm in the Philippines, and I haven't seen any plantains yet

arent platanos just what bananas used to be before genetic modification, arent they just natural bananas?

Make plantain chips by slicing and frying plantains.

Allow the plantain to ripen till it looks almost black, and try it raw :) it's gonna be one of the best things of fruit you've ever tasted!

Thanks

5:16🤣🤣🤣. I never had them raw but they taste really good fried

Plantain is sweet when they get ripe.

Thank you very much, I just wanted to mention, when bananas get too ripe to use in a pie ( my favorite) I peel them & put them in plastic bags & freeze them until I get ready to make banana nut bread....they don't look pretty, but they freeze well & do great for the bread.

Down Here in Mexico We call them "Platano Macho"

Awesome video and now We must try a plantain!!!

No wonder the peel is hard looks different and is dence

I eat them on my oatmeal and if you wait long enough, they can be very sweet. The key is waiting until almost black....it can take more than a week! You slice the peel all the way down and it will peel easily. The key is waiting......lol.

I'm only familiar with Cuban food! Are the Cuban food similar to the Puerto Rican food. There are many Cuban, Mexican, Argentina, Guatemala & Salvador restaurants. What cities in the USA and Canada would have Puerto Rican restaurants, thank you?

In Indonesia we call both Pisang or Banana😂

I see you're using filmora

I grow burro bananas and push them through a fry cutter to make french fries!

Oh that is a lovely kitchen. I eat shakes of greek yoghurt and plantain with cocoa, cacao, nuts and much brown sugar as main food since last year (last year I mean 2021). Ohhh I had not seen the full video when I wrote that. Now I can say I'm an expert on plantains. Of course you didn't like it!! it was 'green' when you tried (raw, in spanish, is "green"). But wait till it is black and you'll see the sweetness. Far more sweet than the regular banana, and much tastier and delicious (and far more nutritious as well as I want to believe). And I almost never cook them, and yes, the way I cook them when I do it is caramelized, as the video you will do next time. But I eat them fresh in my plantain shake made with my greek yoghurt, lots of cacao, lots of delicious and HEALTHY sugar (not white, of course) and nuts. Which became my main food. Cheers from the plain country in the inner Mexico!! Rafael

so helpfull!

Thank you.

Plantains are a good source of resistant starches which feed the good bacteria in your gut so they are healthy. 😊

Thank you 😮handsome guy

In the future, I plan on teaching myself to cook for my channel. May I reference your videos and cook your recipes?

Once my nan bought plantains instead of bananas and it was rock solid lol 😂

Plantains are actually vegetable. They are staple in west Africa. You can fried them. You can boiled them. You can mashed then You can roasted them You can even do plantains pankaces when they are very ripe. Every west african knows plantains.

first time I saw a plantain I thought it was a banana

I bought a plantain chips from trader joe ; it’s supper yummy and tasted as French fries of Macdonalds .

Om almost 65 and just learned about plantains looking up air fryer recipes.. go figure..

Can you Air fry plantains I was told the honey chips banana are in fact plantains

Wakenya hiyo ni matoke

Great Great & Fun + Informative Channel 👍 🎉😂 I just Subbed and ring the Bell

I prefer plantains

❤🎉😢😮 good

Dude, you took a bite of the plantain when it wasn’t ripe. It needs to be dark in color. What you did was the equivalent of eating a sweet banana when it’s really green. Misleading info on that point. Otherwise, I enjoyed the vid.

That plantain is not perfectly ripped 👍

And I still don’t know how to fry a plantain.

Plantain is starchy banana

Plantains can be eaten non cooked when they are ripe, he ate it half raw...lol, good vid thou

Whew, chile. The clueless colonizers in these comments. 🤦🏾‍♀️

plantainto plantato

Ahh I love a white man who says plANTain

Today I bought a crossbred banana/ plantain hybrid.

6:00 Caribbean people be rolling their eyes when they hear caramelised plantain bites 😒

Inimah pisang tanduk

Its absolutely amazing how cheap bananas are. They are a bargain.

ഈശ്വരാ ഇവിടേം മലയാളിയോ

Fufu

This guy shouldn't be talking about something he clearly knows nothing about 😂😂😂so clueless 😂😂😂

Plantains are mostly eaten raw actually, it has a unique taste and it gets sweeter as it ripes

Well I just ate a plantain 😮🤔😐🫠and I didn’t cook it I thought it was a banana

bought 2 on sale and now wonder what to do with it :-D Clueless in EU .

Thanks