What are banana chips and how are they made? Nutritional value and useful substances in the composition, the effect on the body. What dishes include the product, interesting facts about it.
Banana chips are thinly sliced and dried slices of plantain, a special vegetable variety banana. The plantain fruits do not have a characteristic banana sweetness, and the sensations after consumption are assessed as neutral. Chips are in the form of plates, in the center of which there are dark dots - the core, the color depends on the degree of heat treatment - it can be almost light, pale cream, beige or bright yellow. The flavor is determined by the additional additives. The special beauty is that the slices are crunchy. The dessert is popular in South America, from where it spread throughout the world.
How are banana chips made?
Both small enterprises and food factories are engaged in production. The largest exporter of this type of product is the Philippines.
For the preparation of banana chips, special technological lines are installed. Features of production:
- The fruits of the plantain are peeled by hand and put on a conveyor where they are sliced.
- Immersed in a vat with solutions of several components: tartaric or citric acid with the addition of hydrochloric acid or potassium metabisulfite. Chemical processing is short-term.
- The slices go into a large sieve where they are rinsed with running water and left to remove excess moisture.
- The slices are poured into one layer on a baking sheet, fumigated with sulfur and dried in an autoclave or in the sun, stirring occasionally at 60-65 ° C.
- Then the workpieces go to a deep fryer, where they are fried in palm oil or soaked in boiling sugar syrup. The most beautiful bright yellow sweet potato chips are fried in a mixture of palm oil and molasses. The process is the same as for deep-fried potatoes.
- Then the plates are dipped in sea salt, a mixture of peppers or other spices.
- After drying, the slices are packaged in food grade polyethylene or plastic packages.
- The crumbled pieces are sorted by hand and made into flour, which is used to make baked goods and desserts.
It is quite difficult to get the fruits of the plantain, therefore, at home, ordinary bananas are used as raw materials. Slightly immature dense bunches with a greenish-yellowish peel are chosen. Green fruits are bitter, and those with dark spots on the crust will crumble.
Peel the bananas and cut diagonally into slices 2-4 mm thick. In production conditions, the thickness of the "petals" is no more than 2 mm, but at home it is very difficult to separate such a thin plate. Slicing can be longitudinal, along the entire fruit.
The most important process is heat treatment. For her, you can use an electric dryer, oven, deep fryer, microwave. On hot days, the slices are laid out in one layer and left in the sun, covered with gauze so that insects do not sit down. Pre-sprinkle with lemon juice - it prevents darkening.
How to make banana chips at home:
- When drying in an electric dryer pretreatment with lemon juice is also required. Then the slices are laid out in shapes, and the unit is heated to 70 ° C. Install pallets and set the maximum time - 10-12 hours. If the slices are not dry, the dryer is first allowed to cool and only then turned on again. When laying out, you should pay attention: there should be gaps between the plates. Without access to air, they will warp.
- When cooking chips in the oven spread the banana slices on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Preheat the oven to 90 ° C, put the molds into it. At home, banana chips can be dried for a long time at this temperature by opening the door. But if you want to speed up the process, then a quarter of an hour is kept at 90 ° C, the same time - at 150 ° C, the same time - at 120 ° C, then the temperature is again reduced to 80-90 ° C and left to dry completely.
- Ripe fruit preparation process in the microwave fast and you can do without lemon juice. The disk of the device is covered with parchment, thin slices are laid out, the power is set to 600 W and the time is 6-8 minutes. When purchasing green bananas, boil them in the peel first. After 5 minutes of boiling, take out, allow to cool, remove the peel and cut into long slices along the fruit. Lay out on parchment, as already described, in one layer, sprinkle with a mixture of peppers or turmeric. Maintain in the oven for 4 minutes at a power of 880 W, turn over. Leave for another 4 minutes.
- To make banana chips like potato chips in oil, it is more convenient to use deep fryer, but you can get by with a regular saucepan. First, the pieces are dipped in cold water, otherwise they will stick together, allow the water to drain and place in boiling oil for a few minutes. The ruddy slices are laid out on a paper towel to allow the glass to excess oil. Then you can roll the chips in a mixture of spices or peppers and put them to dry, spreading them out on a plate in one layer.
- Sweet banana chips can be cooked like a Tatar dessert chak-chak … The syrup is boiled, mixing 1 part sugar and 1, 2 parts honey by volume, the pieces fried in oil are lowered, taken out and laid out on parchment to dry. Put slices of bananas on a slotted spoon, spread out in one layer, so they do not stick together.
"Shop dessert" looks better, has a rich banana aroma, and is presented in a variety of flavors. But homemade is made without chemical processing and is fried without the use of palm oil.
The composition and calorie content of banana chips
The nutritional value of a self-prepared dessert depends on the processing method. But for a product made in an industrial environment, this indicator changes slightly.
The calorie content of banana chips is 519 kcal, of which:
- Proteins - 2.3 g;
- Fat - 33.6 g;
- Carbohydrates - 58.4 g;
- Dietary fiber - 7.7 g;
- Ash - 1.4 g;
- Water - 4.3 g.
Vitamins per 100 g:
- Vitamin A - 4 mcg;
- Alpha Carotene - 32 mcg;
- Beta Carotene - 0.034 mg;
- Lutein + Zeaxanthin - 46 mcg;
- Vitamin B1, thiamine - 0.085 mg;
- Vitamin B2, riboflavin - 0.017 mg;
- Vitamin B4, choline - 21.3 mg;
- Vitamin B5, pantothenic acid - 0.62 mg;
- Vitamin B6, pyridoxine - 0.26 mg;
- Vitamin B9, folate - 14 mcg;
- Vitamin C, ascorbic acid - 6.3 mg;
- Vitamin E, alpha tocopherol - 0.24 mg;
- Vitamin K, phylloquinone - 1.3 μg;
- Vitamin PP - 0.71 mg.
Microelements per 100 g:
- Iron, Fe - 1.25 mg;
- Manganese, Mn - 1.56 mg;
- Copper, Cu - 205 μg;
- Selenium, Se - 1.5 μg;
- Zinc, Zn - 0.75 mcg.
Macronutrients per 100 g:
- Potassium, K - 536 mg;
- Calcium, Ca - 18 mg;
- Magnesium, Mg - 76 mg;
- Sodium, Na - 6 mg;
- Phosphorus, Ph - 56 mg.
Digestible carbohydrates are represented by mono- and disaccharides (sugars) - 35.34 g per 100 g.
There are 10 types of irreplaceable amino acids in the composition of banana chips, arginine, valine, leucine, lysine prevail.
Replaceable amino acids 8 names - most of all serine, aspartic and glutamic acid.
Fatty acids per 100 g:
- Omega-3 - 0.01 g;
- Omega-6 - 0.62 g.
Saturated fatty acids per 100 g:
- Nylon - 0.2 g;
- Caprylic - 2.51 g;
- Capric - 2.01 g;
- Lauric - 14.91 g;
- Myristic - 5.62 g;
- Palmitic - 2.79 g;
- Stearic - 0.94 g.
Monounsaturated fatty acids are represented by omega-9 - 1.95 g per 100 g.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids per 100 g:
- Linoleic acid - 0.62 g;
- Linolenic - 0.01 g.
If you need to control your weight, you should not eat more than half a cup of dessert per day. In this volume, 176 kcal, 8% of the daily value of magnesium, 6% of retinol required for the visual apparatus, 3% of phosphorus and 4% of potassium. A 100 g serving includes a third of your daily fiber intake. In a dessert prepared at home without frying, there are 1-2% more nutrients. The delicacy cannot be called a dietary product, but periodic introduction into the diet is one of the best ways to quickly recover.
Benefits of Banana Chips
This product cannot replace fresh fruits - during heat treatment, beneficial substances are partially destroyed. But this delicacy is not "empty": banana chips improve mood, stimulate the production of the hormone of happiness - serotonin. The product contains a vitamin complex that activates the brain's pleasure center - pyridoxine and tryptophan. But the effect is also explained by taste: thanks to sweets, they experience pleasant emotions, forget about problems, so depression recedes.
Benefits of Banana Chips:
- Accelerate peristalsis, normalize bowel function, thanks to dietary fiber help to remove toxins and toxins, eliminate constipation.
- Possessing a high nutritional value, they quickly replenish the body's energy reserve, help to recover from debilitating diseases, and gain weight with anorexia.
- Strengthens the immune system, maintains water and electrolyte balance.
- Normalize heartbeats.
- Prevents the development of osteoporosis, osteochondrosis or arthrosis.
- Improves the function of the visual system.
- Help build muscle quickly.
A homemade treat made by drying in a microwave, electric dryer or in the sun can be consumed by pregnant women, women during lactation, and given to young children to calm them down. In terms of the content of nutrients, such a dessert is most similar to a fresh banana, and it has more useful properties than one purchased in a store.
Contraindications and harm of banana chips
A product made in a food factory is always treated with chemicals. As already mentioned, they are essential for enhancing flavor and enhancing appearance. This increases the possibility of developing an allergic reaction.
You should not introduce the new taste to children under 3 years old, treat yourself to banana chips during pregnancy or lactation. Even if a woman's body is not adversely affected after consumption, it is not known how such an additive to the diet will affect the fetus or baby.
Banana chips can cause harm:
- With obesity - they are very tasty, and it is difficult to avoid overeating;
- With diabetes mellitus, refined sugar is added during cooking, which significantly increases the glycemic index of the product;
- In people with hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, varicose veins and increased blood clotting - if the slices were seasoned with salt or spices, then their use will cause a violation of the water-electrolyte balance, the formation of edema;
- With the development of atherosclerosis or high cholesterol levels - due to the high amount of fat and the presence of carcinogens that appeared during frying.
When using homemade chips made by drying, contraindications are limited to individual intolerance and excess weight.
Banana Chips Recipes
This product can be eaten by itself, introduced as an ingredient in salads, or used for presentation - decorating various dishes.
Banana Chips Recipes:
- Orchid salad … Spicy Korean sweet carrots, 80 g, chopped, pickled cucumbers, 1-2 pcs., Cut into cubes, and boiled eggs, 2 pcs., Knead with a fork. Smoked bacon or chicken, 150 g, chopped, rubbed with 90 g of cheese. 4-5 pcs. spicy chips with pepper are ground into powder. All ingredients, except for cheese, are mixed, seasoned with mayonnaise or olive oil, spread in a slide. Sprinkle with cheese and stick orchid-shaped chips in the middle.
- Shrimp salad … Cut the onion, season with wine vinegar, water, add a little sugar and leave under the lid for 20 minutes. 300 g of pickled peeled shrimp (you can cook seafood yourself, and then cool and marinate in the same way as onions) pour 5 tbsp. l. lemon juice and mixed with cilantro slices, 1 bunch. Add onion, after draining the marinade, 150 ml of ketchup (optional), leave for 1 hour in the refrigerator in a sealed container. The salad is served in small portions, 3-4 banana chips are stuck into each plate, which can be spoons at the same time.
- Dessert … 200 g of biscuits are slightly dried, placed in a regular plastic bag and kneaded to small pieces. Grind banana chips, 50 g. Knead the dough from biscuit crumbs, flour from chips and 150 g of butter. The mold is greased with olive oil and sprinkled with fine refined sugar or powdered sugar, spread out the dough, compacted and put into the refrigerator so that the layer hardens. Dissolve 8 plates of gelatin according to the instructions on the package. Half a glass of cherry juice is mixed with 250 g of cherry yogurt. Pour in the juice of 2 limes (or lemons), stir in 75 g of granulated sugar. Add gelatin, diluted with warm water, and 400 ml of heavy whipped cream to the cherry mixture, mix gently, with movements from top to bottom, so that the cream does not fall off. Distribute the cherry-cream mixture over the frozen cake and put it in the refrigerator too. While the dessert is freezing, 300-350 g of canned cherries are thrown into a colander to glass the liquid. The frozen dessert is laid out on a platter, garnished with cherries, banana chips and white chocolate. You should eat quickly, until the cake has melted.
- Banana sticks … The oven is heated to 180 ° C. 30 g of chips are pounded into flour. Heat 80 g of butter, stir in 2 tbsp. l. honey and 80 g of cane sugar and, when it dissolves, remove the dishes from the heat. Allow to cool slightly, add 180 g of oatmeal flour and chips crumbs, 1 mashed banana. Knead until a thick sour cream consistency is reached. Grease the mold with vegetable oil, pour out the dough, bake for 10 minutes. Allow the cake to cool, but not completely, cut into sticks and stick chips into each.
Interesting facts about banana chips
Sun-dried and dried bananas have always been popular, so after the appearance of chips in 1854-1860, tropical fruits were dried in the same way, cutting into pieces. The technology improved very slowly, as bananas became popular in Europe only after the Second World War.
In 1960, tourists visiting hot countries became interested in dessert, and in 1986 the first factory appeared in the Philippines. They began to produce not just fried slices of plantain, but also slices with fillers - sweet and spicy. The product quickly conquered world markets, demand increased, new factories were built - in the Philippines in 1988 and 1990, and later in China, Vietnam, Peru and Colombia.
When purchasing banana chips, you need to pay attention to the expiration date, additional additives, the integrity of the slices and the color. Too bright yellow beautiful slices indicate a high content of food dyes, and dark, unevenly colored ones - most likely for improper storage, so it is better to refuse to purchase.
How to cook banana chips - watch the video:
When buying a treat for a child, you need to remember that it cannot serve as an alternative to a vitamin and mineral complex or fresh bananas. Chips are just fast food, nothing more.
