Bananas
Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colours when ripe, including yellow, purple and red. Bananas can be eaten raw though some varieties are generally cooked first. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Unripe or green bananas and plantains are used for cooking various dishes such as banana pudding and are the staple starch of many tropical populations.
Banana chips are a snack (and a healthy alternative to potato chips) produced from dehydrated or fried banana or, preferably, plantain slices, which have a dark brown colour and an intense banana taste. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. Unlike other fruits, it is difficult to extract juice from bananas because when compressed a banana simply turns to pulp.
Banana leaves can be used as food containers in a similar way to plantain leaves.
How much does one cup of bananas weigh?
Estimated US cup to weight equivalents:
| Ingredient | US Cups | Grams | Ounces | |
| Bananas | fresh/raw - sliced | 1 |
225 grams | 8 ounces |
| Bananas | fresh/raw - chopped/diced | 1 |
200 grams | 7 ounces |
| Bananas | fresh/raw - mashed | 1 |
300 grams | 11 ounces |
Conversion notes:
Every ingredient has a cups to ounces or grams conversion table. Search for the ingredient, cup to weight conversions are at the end of each ingredient page.
We also have a generic conversion table and a portions per person lookup.