On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 20:46:20 GMT, (Miko O'Sullivan)
wrote:

>So, you're cooking dinner for 200 of your closest friends, and you've
>got 2,000 pounds of bananas to do it with. You need to keep it simple
>and cheap, but simply serving stacks of raw bananas isn't the answer.
>What would you cook?
>
>This is the question we're currently facing at the Roanoke Rescue
>Mission (http://www.rescuemission.net/). We get some interesting
>cooking challenges there. It all depends on what shows up on the
>donation dock.

Another old but interesting thread. Hmmm. 2000 pounds for 200 people
is (let me take off my socks) 10lb of banana per person. Ain't no way
you could have included them in menus before they went rotten. Other
posters had some good ideas -- on cereal for breakfast, banana bread,
if you have the facilities and storage, and some 'fried/sauted banana'
recipes don't seem to be too complicated. I'd give every diner a
"walking around" banana right off.

There certainly must be interesting challenges with random donations,
particularly very perishable ones. I suppose, given current
regulations, it wouldn't be possible to *sell* any of the overage.
Maybe the mission can give it away? Or swap with similar
organizations?

Would be interested to hear the end of this story.

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 17:13:44 GMT, Frogleg > took a
very strange color crayon and scribbled:

>There certainly must be interesting challenges with random donations,
>particularly very perishable ones.

It just occurred to me, that one could get a dehydrator and salvage
the food in that way for later use. In this instance, banana chips
make great snacks.

On a more current note, a local 99 cent store has been selling bananas
so green that they are inedible by hand for two weeks. I found that I
can cook a green banana (in its skin) in the microwave and end up with
something that tastes much like a baked potato. Cut off the ends
before baking to prevent mini-explosions. For my oven, about 2 minutes
at slightly reduced power was plenty. Ripe bananas taste good too,
they'll just be very sweet and lack the potato-ish texture.


--
Therese Shellabarger / The Roving Reporter - Civis Mundi
/ http://www.concentric.net/~tlshell

>>>>> "Therese" == tlshell > writes:

Therese> It just occurred to me, that one could get a dehydrator
Therese> and salvage the food in that way for later use. In this
Therese> instance, banana chips make great snacks.

Therese> On a more current note, a local 99 cent store has been
Therese> selling bananas so green that they are inedible by hand
Therese> for two weeks. I found that I can cook a green banana (in
Therese> its skin) in the microwave and end up with something that
Therese> tastes much like a baked potato. Cut off the ends before
Therese> baking to prevent mini-explosions. For my oven, about 2
Therese> minutes at slightly reduced power was plenty. Ripe
Therese> bananas taste good too, they'll just be very sweet and
Therese> lack the potato-ish texture.

In some places, they are done green as you have tried, as a
vegetable. My wife and I spent a couple weeks in Grenada (West
Indies), and this was quite common. I think they were more likely
boiled than microwaved, but the effect is indeed much like potatoes.

There are quite a few other, unfamiliar fruits there as well, many of
which we could sample from the yard where we were staying.

For what it's worth, green papaya is a common Thai dish as well, as a
sort of salad of crunchy, thin matchsticks. MMMmmm....Thai food...

On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 01:09:42 GMT, wrote:

>On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 17:13:44 GMT, Frogleg > took a
>very strange color crayon and scribbled:
>
>>There certainly must be interesting challenges with random donations,
>>particularly very perishable ones.
>
>It just occurred to me, that one could get a dehydrator and salvage
>the food in that way for later use. In this instance, banana chips
>make great snacks.

"Getting a dehydrator" to process 2000 lbs of fruit in a rescue
mission seems a little like bailing the Titanic with a teacup. :-)
Not that dehydrating *isn't* a good idea for making use of overages.
Suppose tomorrow's windfall is 500lb of avocados?

A large part of the problem is distribution and storage. A chain
supermarket, in a fairly downscale neighborhood here, quit offering
slightly over-aged produce on a discount rack. There *were* costs
involved in packaging and pricing it, so Corporate HQ decided all
would be "donated" to food banks, etc. Well, the difference between
slightly tired lettuce at a 50% discount in the store, and slightly
tired lettuce that is dumped in a box and waits a day or 2 extra for a
truck to pick up is considerable. In terms of actual benefit, the
"donation" is probably negligable, while the opportunity for somewhat
less than premium veg/fruit at a (relatively) affordable price was
considerable. Must write the store...