UNRIPE, RIPE, OR OVERRIPE and frankly, almost rotten! Plantain is scientifically known as Musa species. Also called Cooking Bananas, it is rather the banana which is a sub species of the plantain, yet I agree that it's more confusing to call bananas, Eating Plantains.In Ghana, plantains are classified into two major kinds, Apem and Apantu. I don't know if this relates to the French or the Horn varieties, described scientifically. In local language, Apem means a thousand and Apantu means a million. This may refer to the size of the bunches on a stem, or the number of fingers on a hand, but am not really sure. In terms of finger size, apem plantains are slimmer and smaller than their cousins apantu.
Apem plantains are good for cooking green; chopped into two, or cooked whole and not mashed. Usually, it is dipped into a savoury sauce, spicy and hot which locals call "abom," loosely translated, dip. A simple way of cooking apem, (particularly as a farm snack) is by roasting it over an open fire.
Apantu plantains, when eaten green, are boiled and mashed or pounded with other starchy vegetables into fufu and eaten with soup. Apantu also ripen much better and are perfect for eto (spicy mash) and kelewele. In a regular grocery store in Ontario you're more likely to find the larger variety- Apantu- Million.
Plantains are a staple vegetable for many tropical countries. It is a vegetable which never goes to waste, because there are recipes for eating it unripe, ripe, overripe and even fermented!
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