CENTRAL AMERICA & CARIBBEAN In countries in Central America and the Caribbean, such as Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Jamaica, the plantain is either simply fried, boiled or made into plantain soup.
Is plantain Jamaican or African?
Plantains are more common in dishes in Central and South America and the Caribbean. They can also be found in the cuisine of African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria.
What culture is fried plantains from?
Fried plantain is a dish cooked wherever plantains grow, from West Africa to East Africa as well as Central America, the tropical region of northern South America and the Caribbean countries like Haiti to Cuba and in many parts of Southeast Asia, where fried snacks are widely popular.
Are plantains Hispanic food?
Spanish word for “plantain”. Commonly referred to as “cooking banana” or plátano in Spanish, plantain can easily be mistaken for a banana but are larger than a banana and must be cooked before eaten. Plantains are a good source of Potassium and Vitamin A.
What cuisine are plantains?
Harder to peel (especially when green) than bananas, plantains cannot be eaten raw. They must be cooked and are an important part of Central and South American, Caribbean, African, and Southeast Asian cuisines. Plantains are very versatile and typically inexpensive.
Which country invented plantains?
Plantains are believed to have originated in Southeast Asia. Two groups of plantains are thought to have a common origin: the horn plantain and the French plantain. Both types grow in India, Africa, Egypt, and tropical America. The French plantains also occur in Indonesia and the islands of the Pacific.
Do South Africans eat plantain?
Since 2016, we have imported and distributed 1,000 tons of fresh plantains in South Africa every year. As demand for plantain in South Africa continues to grow, Food From Home is expanding its offering, reaching into healthy deliciousness territory with its range of Plantain Chips.
Are plantains Mexican or Cuban?
A super popular Cuban side dish, plantains are served with just about every entrée. In fact, most Cuban dishes are naked without a side of maduros (ripe fried plantains) or tostones (twice-fried green plantains).
Which countries eat plantains?
CENTRAL AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
In countries in Central America and the Caribbean, such as Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Jamaica, the plantain is either simply fried, boiled or made into plantain soup.
Do Mexicans eat plantain?
Fried plantains—a traditional sweet in Mexico—are served as a dessert drizzled with crema, ice cream or chocolate sauce in restaurants, and as a popular street snack liberally doused with sweetened condensed milk.
Is mofongo a Dominican?
Mofongo is a traditional Caribbean dish that shares roots in both The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. While similar, The Dominican version carries some distinct differences. The base begins with mashed green Plantains, mixed up with chicharrón (fried pork skins) and topped off with melted cheese and a garlic broth.
Are plantains native to the Caribbean?
Plantains are native to India and the Caribbean where they are treated as more vegetable than fruit. Although there is no formal botanical distinction between bananas and plantains, “dessert” bananas are generally eaten raw, while plantains are cooked because of their high starch/low sugar.
Who brought plantains to the Americas?
Through trade, slavery, and colonization, the plantains found new homes in the Western Hemisphere. History tells us that plantains are indigenous to equator-bordering lands in Southeast Asia. Spanish and African slave traders brought the fruit with them to the Caribbean on slave ships.
Do Americans eat plantains?
One reason is we almost never see them in the market. Most Americans have never had an opportunity to eat plantains. In the US, I’ve rarely seen them sold green enough to use for tostones, nor ripe enough to use for fried plantains, and nobody knows how to make mofongo or can find the chicharrones to put in it.
Who created fried plantains?
Fried plantains already being a familiar dish among the African slaves, and the by then abundant presence of the crop in the Caribbean region could be considered responsible for its popularity and longevity as it would be one of the foods they had access to as well as knowledge to prepare.
What came first banana or plantain?
“If the term ‘crop’ signifies a plant that can be grown for subsistence, then the plantain and the edible diploid bananas may indeed have been the first fruit crop.” It might be easiest, then, to begin—but not end—with the banana, whose origins are generally considered to be in Southeast Asia between 8000-5000 BCE.
Who brought plantain to Jamaica?
The Gros Michel is said to have been introduced to Jamaica by Jean Francois Pouyat, a French botanist and chemist who settled here in 1820. He brought the fruit back from Martinique to his coffee estate in an attempt perhaps to diversify his produce.
Are bananas native to Africa?
Indeed, banana cultivation was the economic backbone of some African kingdoms that thrived before European colonization. Until recently, most African scholars assumed that the banana, which is native to New Guinea, was not introduced into Africa earlier than about 2000 years ago.
How do Africans eat plantain?
They can be eaten ripe or unripe and are generally quite starchy. In West Africa and other parts of Africa, plantains are often cooked as part of the main course or as a side dish. However, ripe plantains can also be eaten raw since their starches have been converted to sugars.
Did Native Americans eat plantains?
Like all the people around our table, plantain is not indigenous to the Americas or the Caribbean. The African staple sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in the same slave ships. The crop was easy to grow, high in starch and provided energy to those worked by the whip. Bananas are eaten all over the world.
When did plantains come to Africa?
Plantains may have been grown in eastern Africa as early as 3000 BCE, and in Madagascar by 1000 BCE. The plantain had certainly reached the African continent between 500 BCE and 500 CE.