GREEN PLANTAIN

~50 lbs Green Plantain aka "Cooking Banana", "Da-Sheng-Jiao", "Ba-Jiao", "大生蕉", "芭蕉" Green plantain looks like an unripe banana but bigger and with thicker skin. Plantain can be eaten both ripe and unripe. Green plantain is unripe plantain. Green plantains are firm and starchy and resemble potatoes in flavor. It is usually fried and served as tostones. Green plantain is available year-round. Handling Tip Selection Green plantain has a uniform shape and color with no signs of bruises or gouges. Avoid green plantain with black skin and mold around the stem end. Storage Green plantain should be stored at 48ºF - 53ºF (9ºC - 12ºC) with a relative humidity of ninety to ninety-five percent and no mist. The typical shelf life is three to five weeks. High humidity is important to minimize water loss and skin browning. Green plantain is sensitive to ethylene, a naturally occurring gas that regulates ripening. Green plantain should not be stored with high ethylene-producing products to extend shelf life and avoid over-ripening. Green plantain produces a low level of ethylene.  Green plantain is sensitive to chilling injury after a few hours to a few days at 56ºF (13ºC) depending on maturity, condition of the fruit, and duration of exposure. Symptoms include brown or black streaks in a longitudinal cut on ripe fruit, failure to ripen, dark brown to black peel, and flesh turning brown and developing an off-taste. The chilling injury may not become apparent until eighteen to twenty-four hours after actual damage has occurred.