Banana leaf

Carp pepes, carp fish cooked with spices in a banana leaf.

Banana leaves are the leaves of the banana plant. They have various functions, such as for decoration, as in numerous Hindu and Buddhist ceremonies; for wrapping; for cooking, as in Thai cooking; and as placemats or in serving food, as in countries such as India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.

Prasadam offered on banana leaves after Puja at a home in Guntur, India.

Like green tea, banana leaves contain large amounts of polyphenols, including EGCG. They also contain polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that produces L-DOPA, a treatment for Parkinson's disease.

Applications in cuisine

Banana leaves used in cuisine are generally large, flexible, and waterproof. When cooking food with or serving or wrapping food with banana leaves, they may confer an aroma to the food leaves; steaming with banana leaves imparts a subtle sweet flavour to the dish.

The leaves contain the juices, protect food from burning and add a subtle flavor. In Tamil Nadu (India) leaves are fully dried and used as packing material for food stuffs and also making cups to hold liquid foods. The dried leaves are called 'Vaazhai-ch- charugu' (வாழைச் சருகு) in Tamil. Some South Indian, Filipino and Khmer recipes use banana leaves as a wrapper for frying. The leaves are later removed to retain flavor. In Vietnamese cuisine, banana leaves are used to wrap foods such as cha-lua.

In Indian and Filipino cuisine

Food served on a banana leaf in Karnataka, India.

Sumang Kamoteng Kahoy (Cassava Suman), wrapped in banana leaves.

South Indian and some Filipino food (introduced to the Philippines by Hindu merchants) are usually served on a banana leaf. Especially in the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in every occasion the food must be served in a banana leaf and as a part of the food a banana is served. In the Philippines, a common utilization of banana leaves in cuisine is in the preparation of the dessert known as suman, which is a glutinous rice pastry more commonly wrapped in palm leaves.

In Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean cuisine

Chicken satay served in pincuk, a banana leaf.

In Indonesian cuisine, banana leaf is employed in cooking method called pepes and botok; the banana leaf packages containing food ingredients and spices are cooked on steam, in boiled water or grilled on charcoal. Banana leaves are also used to wrap several kinds of snacks kue (delicacies), such as kue pisang and otak-otak, and also to wrap sticky pressed rice delicacies such as lemper and lontong. Banana leaf is also used as a coned plate called "pincuk", usually to serve rujak tumbuk, pecel or satay. The cleaned banana leaf is often used as a plate mat; cut banana leaf sheets placed upon rattan, bamboo or clay plates are used to serve food upon it.

In Malaysia and Singapore, banana leaves are used to wrap certain kuih. Malay food such as Nasi Lemak are also commonly wrapped with banana leaves before being wrapped with newspaper as banana leaves add fragrance to the rice.

In Caribbean and Mexican cuisine

In Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, banana leaves and parchment paper form the wrapper for pasteles (similar to tamales). Ground green bananas stuffed with meat are packed inside and then boiled with the banana leaf imparting extra flavor and aroma.

Mexican, and more specifically Oaxacan tamales and a local variety of lamb meat, or barbacoa tacos are often steamed in banana leaves. Banana leaves are used for wrapping pork in the traditional Yucatán dish Cochinita pibil. The Hawaiian imu is often lined with banana leaves.

In Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, and Honduran cuisine

Vigorón' is a traditional Nicaraguan dish. It consists of a cabbage salad known as curtido (chopped cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and chili pepper marinated in vinegar and salt), boiled yuca, and chicharrones (fried pork with skin or with meat) wrapped in Banana leaf. Variations of this dish are also found in Costa Rica.

Vaho (or Baho) is a mix of meat, green plantains and yuca cooked in banana leaves.

Traditional Nicaraguan Vajo

Nacatamal is made up of mostly nixtamalized corn masa (a kind of dough traditionally made from a process called nizquezar) and lard, but includes seasonings such as salt and achiote (annatto). Filling consists of seasoned pork meat, rice, a slice of potato, bell pepper, tomato, onion, olives, cilantro and/or spearmint sprigs, and on occasion, though less commonly, capers, raisins or fresh chile (red or green) all wrapped in banana leaves. Dish is traditional to Nicaragua in Honduras.

Nacatamales ready to be steamed

Religion

Banana leaves are predominantly used by Hindus and Buddhists as a decorative element for special functions, marriages, and ceremonies in southern India and Southeast Asia. Balinese Hindu prepared banana leaf as the container for floral offerings called canang dedicated for hyang (spirits or deities) and gods. These floral offerings were placed in various places around the house.

As a writing surface

See also: Palm-leaf manuscript

Banana and palm leaves were historically the primary writing surface in many nations of South and Southeast Asia. This has influenced the evolution of their scripts. The rounded letters of many of the scripts of southern India (such as Oriya and Sinhala), of Burmese, and of Javanese, for example, are thought to be such an influence: Sharp angles and tracing straight lines along the vein of the leaf with a sharp writing implement would risk splitting the leaf and ruining the surface, so rounded letters, or letter with straight lines in only the vertical or diagonal direction, were required for practical daily use.

In such situations, the ribs of the leaves function as the dividing lines of ruled paper, separating lines of text. It is believed that this was so influential in the development of rongorongo of Easter Island that the more elaborate wood tablets were fluted to imitate the surface of a banana leaf.

See also

• Banana leaf rice
• Strelitzia, a bird of paradise plant with similarly shaped leaves.
• Cochinita pibil, a Yucatán Mexican dish that wraps pork in banana leaves.
• Puto, Bibingka, and Suman, Filipino rice cakes which are traditionally wrapped in banana leaves.