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Description

Banana flowers can be eaten raw or cooked. When cooked, they have a flavor similar to that of artichokes. Once cut, banana flowers oxidize quickly. To counteract this, a yogurt-water mixture is typically used in Indian cuisine, but any acidic solution will work. The outer red bracts are peeled off, revealing the pale florets in each layer. The covering of the floret, in addition to the long sticky stigma of each, is bitter an inedible and is removed from each floret. The florets on the inner layers eventually become tender enough not to need the cover removed, and can be eaten whole. Towards the center, the bracts will become increasingly pale and tender. Pink bracts can be eaten. Near the center, the bracts are very pale and difficult to separate, forming the banana heart, which can be eaten in its entirety.

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