Bananas - Pisang Kapas

One of my favorite bananas to eat raw is pisang kapas.  However, I think many of you may be more familar with it in its "mature green" form as it is often used in cooking dalca or curries.  In this state, it can also be turned into banana chips.  To determine its readiness, look at the end of the fruit - the flower should be dried and falling off the tip.  I do not recommend eating the inflorescence or jantung pisang from this plant as it has a bitter taste.

This banana plant grows tall at the farm, exceeding 8m and produces many baby plants.  Each tandan produces many sikat - at the farm as many as 10.  The outer skin of the fruit is smooth and not as waxy as pisang emas or pisang lemak manis.  As with all bananas, to harvest, the whole plant is cut down.  I chop up the pseudostem and lay it along the base of the cluster of banana plants essentially to improve the quality of the soil as well as serving as a fertilizer.

The shape is more elongated and ripens to a softer yellow.  It is less creamier and less sweet by comparison to pisang emas.  The texture of the fruit is soft and firm.  I also like it in banana splits - lending a softer flavor in contrast to the rich taste of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.  When it is extremely ripe, I find that it also makes a great cucur kodok as well as banana bread, cake or muffin.