The Facts on Banana Bread

One of my favorite foods of all-time is good old fashioned banana bread. Can you think back to when you were a kid and your mother would bake a loaf of banana bread? If you were like me you would come home from school and smell that aroma of bananas and she would cut you off a slice of this scrumptious bread. Then I would spread some butter on top of it and take a big bite out of it. It would even still be warm. What a great after school snack!

As a fruit, bananas are at the top of the list for everyone's favorites. Bananas go with everything from cereal to ice cream. The only problem with them is that they don't stay ripe for very long. Within a few days to a week your bananas can quickly go from golden yellow to brown and black. And it never seems to fail that you always end up with 4-5 bananas that seem to go uneaten and just get tossed out. This is where using them to make a loaf of banana bread comes in.

Do you know when and where banana bread got its start? In 1933 the Pillsbury Company came out with a recipe book that included the recipe for something strange and new, banana bread. This is actually the first known recipe for this type of bread. The recipe caught on like wildfire and became a huge hit in kitchens all over the country by the 60's.

In fact, many believe that banana bread reached its peak in the late 60's to early 70's. It is still a staple in most homes today, but with the advent of fast food it has lost some of its popularity. Then again, cooking anything at home has lost a lot of its popularity.

The term banana bread is used kind of loosely because it is not a real bread in the sense you would think of a loaf of white bread. It is more like a bread shaped cake instead. It has a thicker texture and the taste stays with you more than it does with a loaf of bread. Interestingly, the original Pillsbury recipe never included the addition of nuts. You can't forget to add those in! That is another part of the recipe that gives it such a unique flavor.

One thing is for sure, when anyone is baking a loaf of banana bread in the kitchen, your house is going to smell great. It produces a sweet aroma that you never forget the smell of, regardless of how many years it has been since you last smelled it.

Although there are variations of the classic recipe, it really is the same ingredients that make it all up in the end. The bottom line is that it is one of those foods that never seem to get old.

So, grab your mother's favorite banana bread recipe and put those extra bananas to good use.