Plantain Bread
Aperçu
Plantain bread is a sweet quick bread built on overripe plantains, and it exists for the same practical reason banana bread does: it is what you make when the fruit has gone too far to eat but is too good to throw out. The comparison to banana bread is the useful one, and the difference is real. Plantain is starchier and less sugary than banana even when very ripe, so plantain bread comes out slightly denser and less cloying, with a flavour that is deeper and a little more savoury at the edges. People who find banana bread too sweet tend to prefer it. It uses the plantains at the stage most cooks would consider past it, skins mostly black, flesh soft and heavily speckled. At that point the starches have converted and the fruit mashes easily, which is exactly what the batter needs. It is a quick bread, chemically raised, so there is no proving and no kneading. Walnuts are a common addition for texture, and it is eaten at breakfast, with tea, or as a snack.
