Bananas Bolden
A nice, easy banana snack or dessert named after one of the first greats of Jazz, Buddy Bolden.
Bananas covered with honey aren’t anything new. Just ask anyone in any part of Asia or Latin America.
The riff here the honey to leverage tastes that amp the bananas. I use mangrove honey, produced in several places but pretty common here in Florida and along parts of the Gulf Coast to Louisiana. I pair it with rich chestnut honey, which is a bit more pricey as the majority of it is Italian, but it’s a wonderful taste in small quantities.
The rest is an exercise in good presentation. The plate is your canvas. How are you going to paint it?
The recipe scales up easily. As it is geared to be a snack, it’s set up as a single serving.
Serves One
INGREDIENTS
- Mangrove honey
- Chestnut honey
- 15-17cm (6-7″) Organic banana
MISE-EN-PLACE
- Plate
- Sharp fruit/paring knife
- Tasting spoon or honey stick
- Squeeze bottle with mangrove honey (If you buy honey not in a small nozzled container)
HOW-TOs
- Peel back one side of the banana. You may need to run the knife tip along the rib of the skin to pop it cleanly;
- With a sharp paring/fruit knife, slice the banana still in the skin. It holds together better that way. Slice 3mm/1/8th”
- Arrange on the plate in a couple of concentric circles. Use the tip as the center “hub” of the wheel.
- Using a back and forth motion, squeeze the mangrove honey on to the plate around the bananas and then across. in a tic-tac-toe pattern. (See photo)
- Use a tasting spoon drizzle a thin stream of the stronger chestnut honey over the top of the bananas. Do not use more than a teaspoon.
- Serve
Variations: Crush a graham cracker and/or pistachios and then plate the bananas.