Everyone makes a fuss over Vosges’ Mo’s Bacon Bar family of chocolates, but I’ve just discovered their Organic Habana bar. A mix of milk chocolate containing 45% cocoa and crunchy plantain chips, this bar is calling my name to try it soon.
I love plantains. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they look like larger bananas with thicker skins. While bananas are edible raw, most of the time, plantains must be cooked. Depending on the dish, one picks a plantain by color, indicating ripeness. Their ripeness cycle parallels that of bananas too, starting out green and starchy, then turning yellow, and finally brown and black. They are super versatile and delicious sweet (as maduros), savory, roasted, baked, fried, in chip form, or in dishes like stews.
Growing up with a Puerto Rican family, plantains were a staple food. Nothing compares to my grandmother’s cooking, but I enjoy preparing them in familiar ways like tostones (a side dish of salt water soaked, then twice-fried, flattened plantains), and discovering new methods, such as African-inspired stews. Plantains are suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anywhere in between. They also cook up pretty fast, making a great option if short on time.
Now, of course, there’s chocolate to explore as well. Already I’m wondering if the plantain chips are from green immature fruit, salted perhaps, or made from riper plantains, crunchy and mingling their natural sugar with the chocolate blend.
Organic Habana chocolate bar available at Vosges.
