This recipe, which comes from the Cameroon, is very easy to make, deliciously moist and a great way to use up bananas that have started to go brown.
How Bananas Came to Africa
Bananas are thought to originate from the Malaysian Archipelago because this is where the largest variety of wild banana species can still be found. From there, bananas traveled to India, where Alexander the Great recorded seeing them being eaten in 327 BC.
As a result of expanding trade routes, bananas found their way to the island of Madagascar off the southeastern coast of Africa and then, due to Arab involvement in the slave trade in Africa, to Guinea on the west coast of Africa.
Today, although bananas are not indigenous to the continent, Africa produces about 7% of the world’s banana crop, according to Julie Morton of Purdue University in Miami, Florida, and the fruit (including the starchier plantains) has become a staple food in many African countries.
Bananas in Food
Bananas are extremely versatile and can be eaten raw, baked, fried, dried and even ground into flour. The banana bread below is actually more like a cake cooked in the shape of a loaf: it uses bicarbonate of soda and baking powder instead of yeast as a leavening agent and does not require kneading.
Recipes for banana bread can be found all over the world, an indication of how ubiquitous bananas have become, and each region tends to have its own variation: cinnamon or sultanas are added in the Caribbean, vanilla or chocolate chips in the United States, and walnuts in Australia, for example. This version comes from the Cameroon, where bananas are a significant export crop.
Easy Banana Bread Recipe
Makes 8-10 slices.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 8 oz / 225 g white flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 oz / 75 g sugar
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
- Pinch of salt
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C.
- In a bowl, mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs little by little. Add the bananas and the flour, and mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Grease a medium bread tin and pour in the batter. Put in the oven and bake for about an hour or until a knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
- Leave the bread to stand in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack; this will prevent it from falling apart.
- Serve in thick slices on its own or spread with butter or honey. This bread is even better the following day – if there’s any left.
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