Cooking banana — starchy when green, sweet when black, and never eaten raw.
Plantains are starchy relatives of the banana, eaten cooked at every stage of
ripeness.
Green plantain is starchy and low in sugar, with a high resistant starch
content that behaves like fibre. As it ripens through yellow to black, the starch converts to
sugar and the same fruit becomes sweet and soft.
That means green and ripe plantain are
nutritionally different foods from the same plant, and which one you want depends entirely on
the dish.
Per 100g raw. Ripe plantain is higher in sugar and lower in resistant starch.
Based on the nutrients and fibre this food supplies. These are supporting foods, not treatments.
Green for savoury, black for sweet. Green plantain fries into tostones;
fully black plantain caramelises.
Score the skin lengthways and lever
it off — plantain does not peel like a banana.
Boil green plantain
rather than frying if you want the resistant starch benefit without the
oil.
Never eat it raw — green plantain is unpleasantly starchy and
hard to digest.
Resistant starch is starch that escapes digestion in the small intestine and reaches the
colon intact, where bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids. Functionally it behaves
like fibre rather than carbohydrate.
Green plantain is one of the richest food sources.
As it ripens, enzymes convert that starch to sugar — so ripeness directly determines
whether you are eating fibre or sugar.
Kidney disease: potassium may need limiting. Ask your doctor for your
numbers.
IBS: several vegetables are high-FODMAP and commonly trigger
symptoms — tolerance is personal.
This is information, not a prescription. If you are managing a diagnosed condition or taking medication, talk to your doctor before making a large change to your diet.
Nutrition figures on this page come from standard food composition data. These links let you check the numbers and read the underlying research yourself rather than taking our word for it.