To preserve plantain simply means to keep them from spoiling and from ripening fast and this can be a lot easy to carry out. One of the key factors for storing plantains is having a constant power supply; this way, you can preserve your plantains for as long as you want.
This article is going to show you the different ways to dice and store your plantains for a longer time; this process will help prevent your green plantains from getting overripe. The same method can be applied when preserving ripe plantains.
Both unripe plantain and the ripe plantains are versatile fruits, they are used to prepare different dishes such as plantain porridge, plantain fufu, plantain pap, and pepper soup. Plantain is a very delicious staple when combined with proper ingredients; you can decide to boil, bake, roast, or make green plantain chips with them. They can be baked in their peels and served as a dessert and they pair well as a side dish with beans, jollof rice, egg sauce, and can be eaten as a main dish as well.
Green plantains can easily become ripe at room temperature if not used immediately; the only way to prevent them from getting ripe easily is to preserve properly in the fridge.
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How to cook frozen plantains
Frozen plantains are best cooked immediately while the ice is still on; this way the texture is preserved and they tend to cook faster. Once you have taken your plantains out of the freezer, add them to a pot of boiling water and cook immediately without having to thaw them; thawing them will have an effect on the texture.
Why you should preserve plantains
Plantains are easy to come by but sometimes, they can be very expensive to purchase however, the issue here is not about the purchasing price, but how to preserve plantains from getting ripe or spoil until when needed.
Both green and ripe plantains are very quick to turn yellow/brown/black on the outside and ripen faster. They can become soft within 3- 5 days of purchase. You can stop this from happening by using an appropriate method to store them. If you want to preserve plantains from spoiling or becoming overripe, it is best to store them in the freezer; however, you can also see the video below on how to preserve your unripe plantains from getting ripe.
Items needed to preserve plantain
- Unripe or ripe plantains
- 4 zip lock bags
- Grater/blender
- Bowls
- Knife
Steps on how to preserve plantain for a longer time
- Rinse the plantain under running water to get rid of sand, and debris; pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Peel the plantain by slicing into the skin along the length of the ridges with a pairing knife. Carefully, remove the peels in strips with your fingers or with the knife.
- Now, cut your peeled plantains into your desired patterns and sizes, your patterns should be based on the recipes you would love to use them for at the end of the day.
- You can cut your plantains into smaller cubes for making porridge, into thin diagonal or circular slices for making plantain chips and into 2-3 big chunks if you want to boil the plantains for vegetable sauce recipe. However, you can grate or blend the green plantain if you want to make plantain fufu, plantain pap, or baby’s food.
- After cutting the plantains into your preferred sizes and patterns; share each of the patterns into different ziplock bags, and level it.
- Gently press out all the air from the bag, and seal the bags properly to make sure there is no space for water to flow in, and ruin your stored plantains.
- Place the bags in the freezer; these can keep up to 2 to 3 months if properly store and there is a constant supply of power.