Banana pudding (sometimes banana cream pudding) is a
dessert
Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...
generally consisting of layers of sweet
vanilla-flavored
custard,
vanilla wafers or
ladyfingers, and sliced fresh
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 which are assembled in a dish and served topped with
whipped cream or
meringue.
It is commonly associated with
Southern US cuisine, but it can be found around the country in specific areas.
Ingredients and preparation
A typical method for making banana pudding is to repeatedly layer the bananas, custard, and wafers into a dish and top with whipped cream or meringue. Over time, the wafers will absorb the custard and the layers will combine, causing the flavors to intermingle.
Banana pudding can be prepared using a
baked or
refrigerated method, with the latter being the more popular, particularly among home cooks. Moreover, many
recipes have been adapted using
vanilla or banana pudding instead of a true custard. Other recipes omit the wafers.
History
''See also:
Banana production in the United States''
Bananas began to gain popularity in the US after the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. The first known reference to banana pudding came in an 1878 "Information Wanted" column from
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
, and the first recipe in an 1888 issue of the Massachusetts-based
Good Housekeeping magazine—it was similar to an English
trifle, utilizing layers of
sponge cake with custard and bananas.
Recipes for banana pudding became very popular in the 1890s across the US, with the sponge cake approach being the most popular, though some used ladyfingers.

In 1920, the use of vanilla wafers instead of ladyfingers first appeared, first seen in a recipe from Mrs. Laura Kerley in a
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...
local newspaper, ''
The Pantagraph''. Following the rise in popularity of using wafers, in the 1940s the
National Biscuit Company (later known as Nabisco) began printing a recipe for banana pudding on the
Nilla Wafers box, whose marketing helped further boost the dessert's acclaim.
The Nabisco recipe closely resembled popular versions of today, calling for "lining a baking dish with layers of vanilla wafers and sliced bananas, pouring custard over them, and spreading meringue across the top." However, it called for baking the dessert at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
It is clear that banana pudding did not begin with the strong ties to the Southern US that it maintains today, though there is no consensus on how the Southern identity developed. Some have theorized that it developed naturally through large gatherings such as church picnics,
family reunions, and barbecues, because the dessert is easy to scale up, requires no cooking, and keeps well.
National Banana Pudding Festival
The National Banana Pudding Festival is held at the Centerville River Park in
Centerville, Tennessee. It is a 2-day event held on the first weekend of October.
Similar dishes
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Banana cream pie is a dish of Southern cuisine that includes bananas and custard in a prebaked pie crust, topped with whipped cream
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Trifle, a dish in
English cuisine
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but is also very similar to wider British cuisine, partly historically and partly due to the import of i ...
that combines fruit and custard layered with sponge cake and topped with whipped cream
See also
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Banana bread
Banana bread is a type of sweet bread or cake made from mashed bananas. It is often a moist and sweet quick bread 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 ingred ...
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Banana custard
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Bananas Foster
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Bánh chuối
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List of banana dishes
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List of custard desserts
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Summer pudding
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Tipsy cake
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banana Pudding
American desserts
Puddings
Custard desserts
Cuisine of the Southern United States
Banana desserts
Thanksgiving food
Soul food
African-American cuisine