By: Katie Kadue | May 13 2010
Posted in Find It - New Orleans, LA

From andouille to alligator, New Orleans is a city famous for its food. At Brennan’s, the French Quarter birthplace of Bananas Foster, cooks fry rum-soaked bananas and serve the flambeed fruit over ice cream, a treat to watch as well as eat. The high-octane dessert was invented in the 1950s to take advantage of the influx of bananas coming through the gulf port. But on a recent road trip, I learned that this exotic import can, for some Louisianans, come fresh from the garden.

Photo: Katie Kadue

Though supermarket bananas more likely hail from South America than the American South, cultivars like Cavendish and Orinoco can thrive in bayou climes. The 1780 banana, a strain of Cavendish that came to a Louisiana sugar plantation from the Caribbean way back in – you guessed it – 1780, has survived the plantation’s often unsavory history and spread to provide sweet fruit throughout the Southeast. As I walked down a New Orleans sidewalk, I saw a generous gardener had left a box of bizarre pinkish-white rhizomes marked, helpfully, “Free Banana Roots!” (I was tempted, but thought the tropical tree might be stifled by Berkeley’s sunless stretches. Also, the twisted roots looked mildly terrifying.)
So, besides the standard smoothie or post-workout snack, what can Louisianans do with local bananas? Spectacular as flaming Bananas Foster are, some home cooks might rather avoid starting a fire in the kitchen. For them, I offer a much simpler banana-based dessert that, for any dieters or lactophobes, is also free of fat, dairy, or any added sugar: frozen banana soft-serve. If the cream-free (but quite convincing) creaminess doesn’t quite transport you to New Orleans decadence, sprinkle generously with buttery (and heart-healthy!) chopped pecans.