Pisang Nangka: A Unique Green Banana of Southeast Asia

Pisang Nangka, also known as the Nangka banana, is a distinctive banana cultivar native to Southeast Asia. Unlike common banana varieties, it does not have a direct English translation and is generally referred to by its original Malay name. It is well known for its unusual appearance, as the fruit remains green even when fully ripe, as well as its unique sweet-and-sour flavour and fragrant aroma. These characteristics have made Pisang Nangka a favourite for both fresh consumption and traditional cooking across Malaysia and neighbouring countries.

One of the most remarkable features of Pisang Nangka is its skin colour. While most bananas turn yellow as they ripen, the ripe Pisang Nangka retains its green peel. In fact, a yellow peel usually indicates that the fruit has become overripe. The banana has a medium-thick skin and a firm flesh, making it suitable for a variety of culinary uses. The fruit is easily recognised by its distinct angular edges and cone-shaped tip.

The flavour of Pisang Nangka sets it apart from other bananas. It offers a pleasant balance of sweetness and mild acidity, creating a refreshing tropical taste. Its strong aroma is often compared to that of jackfruit, known as nangka in Malay, which is how the banana earned its name. The fragrant scent is noticeable even before the fruit is peeled, making it highly appealing to those who enjoy aromatic tropical fruits.

Pisang Nangka is widely appreciated for its versatility in the kitchen. It can be eaten fresh when ripe, but it is equally valued for cooking. The slightly immature fruit is commonly sliced and deep-fried to make crispy banana fritters, a popular snack throughout Southeast Asia. It is also one of the preferred banana varieties for producing crunchy banana chips because of its firm texture. In traditional Malaysian cuisine, Pisang Nangka is frequently used to prepare local delicacies such as lepat pisang, a steamed banana cake wrapped in banana leaves, where its rich aroma enhances the flavour of the dessert.

Farmers also value Pisang Nangka for its productive growth. The plant typically reaches about 10 metres in height and has a sturdy pseudostem measuring around 15 to 20 centimetres in diameter. Each plant generally produces about eight hands of bananas, with each hand weighing between 1.5 and 2.5 kilograms, although some may reach up to 3.5 kilograms under favourable growing conditions.

For harvesting, growers pay close attention to the fruit's maturity. Bananas intended for chips or frying are picked while still mature but unripe. A reliable sign that the fruit is ready is when the dried flower bud at the tip turns black and naturally begins to fall off.

With its striking green appearance, distinctive aroma, excellent culinary versatility, and dependable productivity, Pisang Nangka remains one of Southeast Asia's most treasured banana varieties, continuing to play an important role in both traditional recipes and modern snack production.
Pisang Nangka: A Unique Green Banana of Southeast Asia

Dried banana

Dried banana slices are chewy and a little sticky, with a caramel-like color. Banana slices do not have to be dried until they are hard because the natural sugars act as a preservative.

The drying time will vary depending on the type of dehydrator, the temperature used, piece size, sugar content and the number of trays on the dehydrator.

Drying brings about a substantial reduction in weight and volume; thereby minimizing packaging, storage and transportation cost and also enable storability of the product under ambient temperature. Dried fruits are unique, tasty and nutritious. They are easy to handle and can be easily incorporated during food formulation and preparation.

Dried banana slices are great for a sweet snack; syrup-blanched bananas are particularly good for this, as they are delightfully chewy and flavorful, somewhat like toffee.

All dried bananas work well in dried fruit mixes and are particularly good combine with apricots, peaches or pineapple.
Dried banana

Production of banana powder

Bananas are quite perishable and highly sensible to heat; it is estimated that more than quarter of the world’s production is lost every year. The banana is also very versatile, thus enabling its consumption in wide variety of range of products: canned or frozen puree, dried banana figs, banana powder, banana flour, flakes, chips, canned slices, jams and beverages.

Banana powder is prepared by spray drying of fully ripe banana pulp after adding solids at 10% level. Blanching is an important step in banana powder processing for controlling discoloration in the product.

Spray drying of foods rich in invert sugar is difficult because of their thermoplastic nature, which results in the adherence of the dried matter to the sides of the sprayer necessitates scrubbing. However, when milk solids are added spraying becomes easy and the material does not stick to the walls of the sprayer.

The processing should be carried out under good sanitary condition to prevent bacterial contamination of the product at the time of drying and packing.

The dry powder is highly hydroscopic and is packed in bag-in box packages. The bags are made from laminated material with moisture barrier layer. This product has a high market value as it is use in the confectionary industry, making of ice creams and weaning and baby foods.
Production of banana powder

Banana flour production

The fruits are harvested at three-quarters the full-ripe stage and are processed within 24 hours prior to the onset of ripening. If less mature fruits are used, the flour may taste slightly astringent and bitter due to the tannin content.

The production of flour has been carried out by peeling (facilitated by immersing the fruit in hot water) and slicing green fruits, followed by exposure to sulfur dioxide gas.

Bananas are dried in a countercurrent tunnel dryer for 7-8 hours, with an inlet temperature of 75 °C and outlet temperature of 45 °C. The dried chips may be stored as reserve ‘famine foods’, or ground and milled into flour as required.

Banana flour is used to prepare gruel and porridge, often in admixture with cereal flour from maize or millets. Banana flour is used as an adjuvant in several food preparation. Banana is an important weaning food in Uganda.

Banana flour is said to be highly digestible and is used in foods for babies and invalids, but also be used in the preparation of bread and beverages.
Banana flour production

Manufacturing of banana puree

The ripened bananas are peeled, traditionally by hand and more recently by using mechanical peelers.

Once the peels are separated the mashed bananas are passed through screens that vary in size and type, depending on whether or not a ‘deseeded puree’ is desired and are homogenized.

The next step, de-aeration, is one of the most important in determining the color of finished puree. During the aeration under vacuum, the air present in the puree is removed to a large extend.

After de-aeration, the puree is held under vacuum is a surge tank, from where it is metered into the aseptic process. For concentrated puree, a vacuum evaporation step is done at this point.

The sterile puree is finally cold sterilized. When canning banana puree, the puree is filled into cans with plastic film bag liners, sealed and stored (2-4 °C).

Production steps of processing
*Ripe banana
*Peel
*Homogenized
*De-aerated
*Vacuum Hold
*Aseptic process
*Concentration
*Aseptic filling

The major restriction in manufacturing banana puree is its tendency to brown rapidly. Procedures for overcoming the enzymatic browning involve:
*Heating the whole fruit to greater than 80 °C for 3 minutes to inactivate the polyphenol oxidase enzymes
*The ripe fruit is immediately processed
*The blanched puree for 30 seconds at ~90 °C with rapid cooling, can also be frozen in bulk

Banana puree is an important infant food. It is a good ingredient for bakery products and ice creams.

Banana puree also used as an ingredient for dairy dessert, bakery items, drinks, processed foods and sauces and as part of special diets in hospitals and nursing homes.
Manufacturing of banana puree

Banana sauce

Though banana sauce can be easily found at Asian markets, the sauce can be easily made at home without all the artificial colors and flavors.

In the Philippines, bananas are used to produce ketchup in a commercial scale. Banana sauce resembles tomato ketchup in appearance but not in flavor.

Banana cultivar was blanched, peeled, mashed and cooked with spices and vinegar to yield banana sauce with favorable acceptability. The product is stable for almost a year.

Banana sauce looks just like regular sauce or ketchup and is made from bananas, tomatoes, sugar, vinegar and spices. It has a sweet and sour taste and doesn’t taste like bananas at all.

Though naturally a brownish-blonde hue, the newly created banana sauce was dyed a bright red to resemble the old standard.  Banana sauce became popular in the Philippines as tomato ketchup was in United States.

Banana sauce is cheaper than tomato sauce in the Philippines and is also commonly found in Hawaii and the West Indies. It is often used as a dip for fried chicken hotdogs and other fired dishes.
Banana sauce

The uses of banana peel

Banana peel is an energy-rich carbohydrate substrate for single-cell protein production for food and feed.

In traditional medicine, banana peels have been reported to be useful against cancer and heart disease since these peels are rich in gallocatechin, and important antioxidant involved in the prevention of these diseases.

The banana peel, which is the waste from banana processing, is also term as banana waste. These wastes can be utilized for the production of ligninolytic enzymes.

Banana skin has been used as a support-substrate for the production of extracellular laccase by the white-rot fungus Trametes pubescens.

It was reported that alcohol can be produced from banana peels by subjecting the material to saccharification treatment using either sulfuric acid, steam under pressure or cellulase. The fermentation was carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus.

For certain people, banana peel can be eaten, usually grated fried and mixed with black eyed peas.

The green banana peel contains about 50-100 ug/g fresh weight of chlorophyll, 5-7 ug/g fresh weight of xanthophyll and 1,5-3.5 ug/g fresh weight of carotene.

Banana peels also known for their antifungal and antibiotic propertied as well as being loaded with vitamin and minerals.

During ripening, chlorophylls lost, and total yellow pigment remains approximately constant.

Chlorophylls activity in banana peels increases sharply at the onset of the climacteric rises to a peak which coincides with the climacteric peak, and then falls to near zero in the post climacteric period.
The uses of banana peel