Bananas

The banana is an anytime, year-round snack. We like them fully yellow with just a dusting of brown freckles. But super-ripe, meltingly sweet bananas and firmer greenish ones have their fans too. Slice them onto cereal or pancakes, fold into fruit salad, blend into smoothies, and bake into muffins. Heat brings out bananas' creamy sweetness. Try baking, broiling, or sautéing them with butter and sugar for a luscious dessert.

The same fruit as a yellow plantain, but less ripe. It's even more starchy and less sugary, with only a hint of banana sweetness. Popular in Latin American, Caribbean, African, and Indian cuisine. Green plantains can be fried; diced and boiled; or pureed and added to spicy soups and stews to thicken and add body. Treat them like potatoes or squash. Keep them around and they'll turn yellow.

The starchiness of a potato with the sweetness of a banana. Fried yellow plantains, called maduros or amarillos, are a staple of Latin American tables. They are like potato chips, but warm, irresistibly chewy, salty, and almost candied. Serve these big "cooking bananas" as a side dish with black beans and rice or roast chicken.