Banana Bread...YUM

February 23rd is National Banana Bread Day

Bananas made their way west from Asia by traveling with Arab conquerors as long ago as 300 BC, and they have been growing in popularity every since. Theyfirst made their appearance in the United States in 1870 but for a long time, Americans saw the tropical fruit as merely that – a fruit, not an ingredient. From the time they started to become accepted and commonplace in the west, it took a little while (several centuries, in fact) forthis tasty fruit to be made into banana bread as people know it today. It was likely first developed and started to become popular back in the 1930’s, during the economic hardship of the Great Depression. Cultural historians suggest that the resourceful and creative American housewives of the era started making the recipe as a way of not letting overripe bananas go to waste. As it turned out, the riper the bananas were, the sweeter they were, and the better the taste of the banana bread. So it ended up being a very clever and innovative creation! The first printed recipe for this treat appeared in Pillsbury’s Balanced Recipes cookbook, which was published in 1933.

 Bakers know that to make sweet and delicious banana bread, they need to use fully ripe, mashed bananas and the finished product makes a tasty sliced snack. Toast it and add butter for an even more satisfying treat!

Even I can make a pretty tasty banana bread but alas I have no bananas. I do however have some bread and it turns out that February 23rd is also National Toast Day so I will honor the day with toast for breakfast.