Banana Vinegar: What Would You Do With It?

Yes, you read that right. Banana vinegar. Have you ever tried this stuff? And if so, how do you cook with it?

I was lured into buying a bottle of this curious vinegar at Rancho Gordo, while I was resupplying my stock of dried beans. Steve Sando gushes over this banana vinegar in the Rancho Gordo web shop, saying that it has a mild fruity taste and that it adds this indefinable taste of the tropical to salads and meats. It isn't banana-infused vinegar, by the way. It's actually made from fermented bananas — a variety that is somewhere between a banana and a plantain.

I haven't quite figured out how to use it, though. It tastes tangy and assertive like any vinegar, of course, but it has a softened edge and a floral aroma of bananas that lingers in the mouth. I don't quite like the thought of putting it in my next dressing for mesclun, but I also don't want to save it just for desserts (although it would kill in a Bananas Foster preparation).

What do you think? How would you use banana vinegar?

• Find it: Banana Vinegar, $15.95 at Rancho Gordo

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (8)

hmmm, looks interesting to me. maybe I'll pop over to Steves' and check this stuff out.It sounds intriguing for desserts. I love using balsamic vinegar for desserts. I going to get myself some

Search for recipes using "vinagre criollo" or "vinagre montubio" it is commonly used on recipes from the Ecuador and South America

I would totally use it in a mango salsa over white fish. Very tropical!

I would try a drop on pieces of various fruits and vegetables and other things to see how it would marry. You don't have to use it on a whole recipe until you know what it will do.

Oh, my dad talks about this all the time! My grandma makes her own, but I always forget what she puts it in. I will ask for the recipe and make it myself. :-)

Make chilera! It's like giardiniera- great spicy condiment from Costa Rica.

I'd make a salad dressing or a glaze for something.