Banana bread is a type of sweet bread or cake made from mashed
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...
s. It is often a moist and sweet
quick bread
Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like Baker's yeast, yeast or Sourdough#Starter, sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, w ...
but some recipes are yeast raised.
History
Bananas appeared in the US in the 1870s, but it took a while for them to appear as ingredients in desserts. Banana bread recipes emerged in cookbooks across North America when
baking powder
Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increas ...
became available in grocery stores in the 1930s. Some food historians believe banana bread was a byproduct of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
as resourceful housewives did not wish to throw away overripe bananas. Others believe that banana bread was developed in corporate kitchens to promote flour and baking soda products.
Banana bread experienced a surge in popularity in 2020 during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
lockdowns.
In the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, banana bread is usually called "banana cake." It was introduced during the
American colonial period of the Philippines
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
as the Philippines became a top banana supplier.
February 23 is National Banana Bread Day in the United States.
Variations
* Banana raisin bread
* Banana nut bread (often featuring chopped
nuts, such as
walnuts
A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an invo ...
,
pecans
The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River.
The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia, ...
or
almonds
The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera by corrugations on the sh ...
)
* Chocolate chip banana bread (featuring
chocolate chips)
The Ultimate Banana Bread Recipe
* Banana bread muffins
* Banana crumble bread
* Vegan
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...
banana bread (made without eggs or dairy products)
* Blueberry
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...
banana bread (or other fruits such as raspberry
The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...
or orange to add additional flavours)
File:Banana bread without nuts plus strawberries.JPG, Banana bread
File:Banana Chocolate Chip Bread, March 2009.jpg, Chocolate chip banana bread
File:Julia's Banana and Blueberry Cake with walnuts.jpg, Blueberry banana bread
File:Sliced Filipino Homemade Banana Bread.jpg, Filipino banana bread (often called "banana cake")
See also
* Banana cake
* Bánh chuối, a banana cake from Vietnam
* List of American breads
This is a list of American breads. Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of humanity's oldest foods, having been of importa ...
* List of banana dishes
* List of quick breads
* List of sweet breads
Here is a list of sweet breads. Sweet bread, also referred to as pan dulce, buns, or coffee bread, is a bread or cake that is typically sweet in flavor. Some sweet breads, such as Portuguese pão doce, may be prepared with potato flour, which im ...
* Pumpkin bread
* Zucchini bread
* Carrot bread
References
{{Banana
Quick breads
Sweet breads
Banana dishes
American breads