A banana chip (sometimes called banana crisp) is a deep-fried or dried, generally crispy slice of

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 ...

. It is usually made from firmer, starchier banana varieties (" cooking bananas" or plantains) like the saba and Nendran

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s. It can be sweet or savory and can be covered with

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

, salt, or various spices. Banana chips are the only processed banana product with significant international trade. The main exporter of banana chips worldwide is 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 ...

. Export markets for banana chips are also established in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Fried

Fried banana chips are usually produced from under-ripe banana slices deep-fried in sunflower oil or

coconut oil Coconut oil (or coconut fat) is an edible oil derived from the kernels, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat below around , and a clear thin liquid oil at higher temperatures. Unrefined varieties have a disti ...

. These chips are dry (like potato chips), contain about 4% water (table), and can be salted, spiced, sugar-coated, or jaggery-coated. Sometimes, banana flavoring is added. If ripe dessert bananas are used, they come out soggy. They are used for desserts, not for dry chips.

Dried

Some varieties of banana chips can be produced using only food dehydration. Banana slices that are only dehydrated are not dark yellow and crunchy but rather are brown, leathery, and chewy. They are very sweet and have an intense banana flavor. These are ideally made from fully ripe bananas. Another kind is made by baking it in an oven, although this process may not result in the same intense banana flavor.

Nutrition

Dried banana chips are 4% water, 58%

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s, 34%

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

, and 2%

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

. In a 100-gram reference amount, dried banana chips supply 520

calorie The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, kilocalorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter o ...

s and are a rich source (20% or more of the

Daily Value In the U.S. and Canada, the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products to indicate the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97� ...

, DV) of

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

(21% DV) and

vitamin B6 Vitamin B6 is one of the B vitamins, and is an essential nutrient for humans. The term essential nutrient refers to a group of six chemically similar compounds, i.e., "vitamers", which can be interconverted in biological systems. Its active f ...

(20% DV), with moderate amounts of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

, and

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

(10% to 11% DV) (table). Other

micronutrient Micronutrients are essential chemicals required by organisms in small quantities to perform various biogeochemical processes and regulate physiological functions of cells and organs. By enabling these processes, micronutrients support the heal ...

s are in negligible amounts of the Daily Value (see nutrition table).

Uses and variations

Philippines

The

is, by far, the main exporter of banana chips worldwide. It exports large quantities to more than 30 countries, including the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The annual revenue for banana chip exports in the Philippines was approximately $35 million in 2009. There are many variants of banana chips in the Philippines, from traditional dishes like '' pinasugbo'' to modern versions coated in cheese powder. Banana chips in the Philippines are made predominantly from saba or cardava bananas, with the latter preferred for commercial banana chips due to their larger sizes. For domestic production and home cooking, they are made directly by deep-frying fresh sliced bananas. For commercial banana chips for the export market, the main method of production is through osmotic dehydration followed by

deep frying Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly Cooking oil, oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a fryi ...

at in

for 1 minute. The resulting chips are distinctively light-colored.

India

Fried plantain Fried plantain is a dish cooked wherever plantains grow, from West Africa to East Africa as well as Central America, the tropical region of northern South America and the Caribbean countries like Haiti to Cuba and in many parts of Southeast A ...

chips, known as ' or ' or ' in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, are fried in

. Both ripe and unripe plantains are used for this type of chip preparation. The chips may be coated with masala or

jaggery Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...

to form spicy and sweet variations. Plain banana and plantain chips are called ' and ', respectively; sweet jaggery-banana chips are called ' or '. is more expensive than . It is an integral part of the traditional Kerala meal called served during weddings and festivals, such as Onam.

Indonesia

Bananas are native plants of

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...

, and the people of the archipelago have developed many uses for them for ages, including as a snack. In

, a banana chip is called ''kripik pisang'', and is considered a variant of crispy '' kripik'' (traditional chip or crisp). ''Kripik pisang'' is a popular crispy snack and can be commonly found in Indonesia, although it seems to be more prevalent in Java and Sumatra. In

North Maluku North Maluku (; ) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares marit ...

, popular with ''pisang mulu bebek'' is a duck-mouth-shaped banana chip. It is served with sambal, fried

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

, and fried anchovy. In

Lampung Lampung, officially the Province of Lampung (; ), is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and a longer border with the provi ...

, banana chips is combined with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

powder called ''kripik pisang coklat''. Usually, unripe green bananas are thinly sliced, soaked in a lime and salt water solution, and deep-fried as chips. Unripe banana is well suited for

due to its low content of water and sugar while having high starch content. '' Pisang goreng'' is another fried banana snack, although it is not thinly sliced and serves as a sweet hot snack.

Americas

The chips are often part of

muesli Muesli ( ) is a cold Swiss cuisine, Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak in water overnight ("overnight oats") and eaten the next morning with fresh fruit, nuts, lemon juice, and ...

and nut mixes. Other chips, such as patacones, are

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

y. Similar chips called chifle are made from plantains, the family of fruit that bananas come from. In tropical American cultures, all bananas are considered plantains, but not all plantains are bananas. These deep-fried plantain chips are also quite popular in the southeastern part of Mexico, especially in the state of

Tabasco Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It i ...

Gallery

File:Banana Chips preparation.jpg, Banana chips being prepared by

File:Chips Palakkad.jpg, Fried banana chips File:Homemade_4_Cut_Banana_Chips.jpg, Homemade banana chips File:Jaggery Chips BNC.jpg, Jaggery chips File:2020-06-10 16 38 39 Banana chips from Giant in the Franklin Farm section of Oak Hill, Fairfax County, Virginia.jpg, Dried banana chips File:723Pinasugbo consilva 07.jpg, '' Pinasugbo'', a traditional banana chip snack from the

Western Visayas Western Visayas (; ; ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VI. The region comprises the islands of Panay and Guimaras Island, Guimaras. It consists of five Provinces of the ...

islands of the

File:Banana Chips in Palakkad.jpg, Banana chips getting deep fried at a shop in Palakkad, Kerala, India. File:Banana Chips from India.jpg, Ripe banana chips from India. File:Ripe Banana Chips.jpg, Banana Chips made of ripe bananas from Kerala, India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banana Chips Snack foods Dried fruit Banana dishes Deep fried foods Indian snack foods Indonesian snack foods Philippine desserts Kerala cuisine