Banana Ketchup

We know it’s really weird, every one say’s it until they taste it! Back in St Lucia there is an abundance of banana’s and spices so what else to do… make banana rum I hear you say :-) well of course you could do that too, but whilst you are waiting for it to be ready you could get your fill of banana ketchup and vanilla ice cream. It was a customer who put us on to it, and of course we had to try it…several times…. here are the results. You can also purchase some of this delectable sauce in our shop

Here’s a bit more about Chef Bernie’s Banana Ketchup & Banana’s in general…

This Banana Ketchup recipe was inspired by my home country, the island of St Lucia.

We have a lot of bananas on St Lucia.  It is believed that there are almost 1000 varieties of bananas in the world. The most commonly known banana is the Cavendish variety, which is the one produced for export markets.

Most people think ketchup is that tomato based stuff.  But bananas make wonderful ketchup.

What is great about using bananas is that they are naturally sweet so only a very little ‘healthy’ sugar is added in my recipe.  Instead of spirit vinegar which is too strong for the body, I use wine vinegar and lemon juice,  I put more bananas in than usual and my secret ingredient is turmeric. Well I guess not so secret as is says it right on the bottle! You get a bit of a bite from the ginger at the end.

Bananas are more than just a sweet yummy fruit! They are full health benefits.

Here are 5 of the many Health Benefits:

1 Bananas are the happy food with high levels of tryptophan which can help overcome depression.

2 Bananas can lower blood pressure and protect against heart attack and stroke because they high in potassium and low in salt

3 They can keep you cool (lower your body temperature).   The tannin they contain, helps your body absorb water which makes you cool.

4 Asthma can be lessened: A study found that children who ate one banana a day had a 34% less chance of developing asthma. – Imperial College of London

5 Bananas contain lots and lots of nutrients!  They are the only fruit that can give you all the nutrients needed by the body according to research institutes and Agricultural Development Malaysia (MARDI).