I swear that produce is going bad quicker during the quarantine. It’s been a full time job just keeping up with what is about to go bad. This recipe came to the rescue.
It’s from Fannie Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School (1942). Bananas are one of the biggest sources of food waste. For every one banana eaten, two are wasted. That’s bad for us and the environment.
Today, Cavendish bananas are the most common but in the 1940s, they would have likely be using the Gros Michel variety if they could get bananas at all. Gros Michel bananas had a thick peel and a strong flavor but were susceptible to Panama Disease, which destroyed many banana plantations in the 1950s leading to the current popularity of Cavendish. If I ever get ahold of a Gros Michel, I’ll be sure to do a taste test.
Today, Cavendish bananas are the most common but in the 1940s, they would have likely be using the Gros Michel variety if they could get bananas at all. Gros Michel bananas had a thick peel and a strong flavor but were susceptible to Panama Disease, which destroyed many banana plantations in the 1950s leading to the current popularity of Cavendish. If I ever get ahold of a Gros Michel, I’ll be sure to do a taste test.
This recipe has a nice texture, just between bread and cake. It smelled like heaven while baking and was delicious toasted in the toaster with some butter
World War II Banana Bread
Ingredients:
- 3 Bananas
- 2 Eggs
- 3/4 Cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 Cups Flour
-1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mash your bananas with a metal fork add sugar, eggs, salt, baking soda then flour gradually. Put in a buttered 9 x 5” pan. Bake for 1 hour.
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mash your bananas with a metal fork add sugar, eggs, salt, baking soda then flour gradually. Put in a buttered 9 x 5” pan. Bake for 1 hour.
You can also replace some of the banana in this recipe with apple sauce and some of the sugar with honey.
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube channel. You all asked for it, so here it is. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts and ideas.
If you have a banana left that nobody wants to eat because it's getting brown, put it in the freezer! When you have enough for your banana bread recipe, take the bananas out and let them sit at room temperature on a plate for a couple of hours or until they are thawed. You can then tear off one end of the skin and squeeze the insides out like toothpaste -- it looks a bit gross and slimy, but it's perfectly usable for cooking with!
ReplyDeleteAnd be sure to put the skins in your compost pile! No waste anymore!