Plantains are generally seen as the big sister of bananas and are indeed part of the banana family. They are similar in appearance but are larger than the average banana and much higher in starch. Unlike bananas, you don’t eat plantains raw. Plantains need to be cooked to make them edible and make a really good starchy addition to a meal –- playing a similar role to potatoes or yams when cooked while green, then stepping across to the sweeter side to be used in desserts once they are fully ripe.
One of the more notable differences between bananas and plantains is that the latter has a thicker skin, making plantains much more difficult to peel –- not the simple pop-the-top then pull-the-skin-off that banana fans are used to. But, when you know the trick to peeling green plantains, working with them becomes a lot easier.
Here’s what you do: Place your plantain lengthwise on a clean cutting board and chop off the ends. Then cut it into smaller chunks which you can easily stand upright. Using a sharp knife, cut sideways down the length of the plantain, slicing off the skin as you go. This is the same method you would use to peel a pineapple or butternut squash.
A few more plantain peeling nuggets
It’s a good idea to get your plantains to room temperature before you peel them –- the colder the plantains are, the more feisty the peels, making them tough to remove. So, if they’ve been in the fridge, let them sit out in the kitchen until they’ve warmed up. If you’re a bit tight for time, you can pop your plantains into warm water for a few minutes before peeling –- you’re going to cook with them anyway, so a bit of moisture isn’t the end of the world.
Once you’ve cut the ends off your plantain, you can lightly score the skin lengthways then boil them with the peels on for around 10 minutes. This loosens the skin, allowing you to strip them by hand.
A last little golden nugget -– if you’re preparing a lot of plantains to make a dish for the whole family, pop each peeled plantain into a bowl of salted water before moving on to the next one. Plantains tend to oxidize really quickly and go brown, so keeping them in brine until you’re ready to cook stops this process. Plus, it has the added benefit of washing off any residual sticky sap that may remain on the fruit beneath the peel.
