WHAT??? I've never heard of that before!!! That's so interesting!!! I will have to look into it. I hate to think that anyone on this Forum has eaten one.LOL I wonder what they would taste like? I like growing them too much, so I don't think I would be the one to consume one!!! I hope someone can answer this question for you. Very Interesting!!! Diana55

Hey, maybe the Banana corms are poisionous, and that "Rug13y" guy eats them, and that is why they don't let us ship them to Australia!!!LOL Just kidding!!! Diana55

I've heard some mentions of it being used in some part of Africa as a crop. One of the links here says it's been made into some kind of flour to bake bread.

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Ensete+ventricosum

http://www.answers.com/topic/ensete-1

It's the corm and the roots that are edible I think. I'm imagining that it must be quite tasty because some bugs have actually been munching away my new leaves right now! In any case, it's good to research a little more before anyone makes a recipe of it :)

Well thats no so far feched, as they eat EE, they sell them in the Asian grocery stores, Also the Common "Potato Plant Vine, that we grow here as any annual for the foliage is grown in Asia , and they eat them as well. I will go and check out the links above to find out about the Musa. I just purchased 2 different Hardy Musas this summer. So this shall be informative.

Look what I found!!! http://www.fao.org/WAIRdocs/x5425e/x5425e07.htm

Diana 55,

The link you found is a keeper--lots of info about care, nutritional value and recipes!!! I'm going to have to try out some of the recipes. Hopefully some of mine will bloom this summer and send forth some fruit for me.

I've heard of them being used like a vegetable but I'd never waste one in a cooking pot. :)

I would go buy a hamburger and grow the banana LOL!

Interesting discussion. I am not sure about Ensete and don't know about making it into a flour. But the corm of a Musa is what you would probably consider famine food if you eat it with just cooking and no processing(although I don't know or heard of anything else you do with it). The closest thing to it would be a very very poor substitute for a taro bulb, stringy and not tasteful.
Although other parts of the plant is considered quite good and a delicacy. The flower buds actually makes a nice vegetable depending on variety, some has a very bitter tastes, many of the Asian varieties don't. Considered an extreme delicacy and somewhat laborous to prepare is the false trunk of the banana especially considering that when you use it you're giving up the fruits it will bear. You must cut down a banana before it matures(and before it begins to send up its flower bud through the pseudostem) but large enough to provide enough of the pseudotrunk since your be removing most of the older petiole(is that what's its called) until you get into the very white pseduostem, then you would skin them to remove the fibrous parts. Slice the petiole thinly and you have yourself a very delicate crispy vegetable. It goes extremely well in stews also as it soaks up the flavor quite well and remains quite crispy even cooked. I think for most folks on this forum the thought of cutting down a banana for vegetable is a bit scary. =)

I got some Musa ensete seeds that i planted, they all sprouted easily, But it said on the back eventually it will make a flower followed by inedible bananas. So the bananas are poisonous

"Inedible" is not the same as "poisonous". I'm pretty sure all bananas produce fruit that is technically edible; the problem is that many (especially the wild species) produce bananas with so many big, hard seeds and so little pulp around them that they are not worth eating. In the case of the closely related genus Ensete, the fruit is all seeds and no pulp, something you just wouldn't eat.

Ensete corms are the main staple of many Ethiopians diet, as well as other African countries. It is called Kocho is Ethiopa. In most african countries plaintains that are cooked are the major food source.
Anybody up for some fermented Ensete corm bread?

Here is a link that might be useful: Ensete food- how it's done

Yes, I slice them up and eat them in my Cheerios. They're delicious.

Diana,
>> Look what I found!!! http://www.fao.org/WAIRdocs/x5425e/x5425e07.htm

I went to the site you found and there are quite a few more publications. This is a great resource, thank you!

Moonie,
>>I've heard of them being used like a vegetable but I'd never waste one in a cooking pot. :)

I don't know about using them as a vegetable, but when I was growing up we would have "cookers" (cooking bananas) for breakfast/lunch/dessert all the time. One of my favorite things to eat, especially if you have some good Ele Ele bananas! Ono!

Cooked Bananas Recipe
1 tablespoon butter
2 cooking bananas -- ripe and peeled
1 orange
1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar
cinnamon to taste

Melt butter in a saute pan or skillet over medium heat; add whole bananas to pan. Grate rind of orange into pan; squeeze in juice of orange and add honey. Cover pan and cook slowly 10 minutes, basting bananas 1-2 times with sauce in pan. Serve.