CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Dole Food Company is encouraging everyone to expand their horizons this fall with a globally grown and beloved fruit that cooks and eats more like a vegetable and works overtime as an easy replacement for recipe staples like potatoes.
Plantains are members of the banana family but starchier and lower in sugar, meaning they will still be green when ripe. While Americans are most likely to find them baked, roasted or fried as a savory side dish at Latin, African, or Caribbean restaurants, they’re growing in popularity as stars of their own recipes or as nutritious, exotic swaps for starches.
“Plantains are popular right now, and not only among banana fans, as a way to spice up mealtime routines and school lunches – especially since many of these lunches are still being eaten at home because of the coronavirus,” said Bil Goldfield, Dole’s director of corporate communications. “What’s remarkable about them is that they can be used at every stage of ripeness: boiled like a potato when green; prepared in sauces and soups, air-fried or roasted as snacks when yellow; or baked in desserts and sweet recipes when black or spotted.”
Dole is actively encouraging adoption of DOLE® Plantains on social and digital, and through PR and the national distribution of a number of comforting, time-saving recipes including Plantain Crusted Salmon Fillets; Slow Cooker Sweet Potato, Plantain and Lentil Caribbean Curry; Plantain and Tomato Salad, and Dole’s Sweet and Spicy Plantain Soup, among others.
The produce leader is even jumping on the pumpkin spice bandwagon in October with its Pumpkin Spice Plantain Chips & Curry-Apple Dip which combines DOLE® Plantains, Red Apples and Red Onions with pumpkin pie spice, avocado oil, Neufchâtel cheese and curry powder.
For more Dole recipes featuring plantains, search ‘plantain’ on the Dole website or click here. For all Dole fresh fruit and vegetable products plus other recipes and nutritional resources, visit www.dole.com and Dole’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest pages.
About Dole Food Company, Inc.
Dole Food Company, Inc., is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.
