If Wisconsin farmers raised bananas would Wisconsin milk grow on trees? Blustery-gray, November weather has Wisconsinites cheering when the thermometer tops 50. As winter blows in, we now greet each other with commiserating remarks about our impending deep freeze. Few are happy about it, most give a resigned gripe. But it could have been different, and if so, would we be any happier?
If Wisconsin had been located south of the border, we could be growing bananas. Our Welsh fore-bearers, the original Badgers, would have carried banana bread into the mines rather than turnip pasties. But think of the sacrifice. Our milk would come from a nut, - a nut that grows high in a tree, - a tree so high that one must climb to harvest it. This nut is so dense that it must be hacked at with a knife to split it open. And then only a thin, semi-sweet, high-in-the-wrong-type-of-fat, pale liquid spills out everywhere which we would call "milk"? Would our children be happy with this milk-substitute? Consider how good we have it now.
Click on "Continue reading..." for the rest of the pep talk and a recipe for banana bread with coconut.
Exactly because of our changing seasons, a perfect mix of forbes and grasses grows in Wisconsin pastures. Gentle bovines dine and then come willingly when called to the milking barns. They quietly stand as rich, thick, creamy, and nutritious milk flows from them into sparkling-clean, steel, milk tanks.
Would we Wisconsinites really be willing to trade our milk for nut juice? Uh-oh, my telepathic powers sense enthusiastic nods. Well then, Wisconsinites, let's focus our Thanksgiving thanks on the trains, planes and automobiles that bring to us those tropical bananas and coconuts. Thanks to modern commerce we're not restricted to eating only the fruits of our short-summer labors. Today delicious banana bread recipes bless Wisconsin cookbooks.
Here's a particularly good banana bread recipe from the cookbook, Cooking Inn Style. The cookbook is a collection of recipes gathered from the innkeepers of the Wisconsin Bed and Breakfast Association. These folks cook wonderful breakfast foods for a living. I suggest that this group helps define Wisconsin cuisine. So if they serve banana bread rather than pasties to guests, Wisconsin food has come a long way.
This particular banana bread recipe belongs to the chefs at the Rochester Inn in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. I threw in a 1/2 cup of coconut in a spontaneous whimsy for the tropics. But I'm sure the bread is just as tasty without. Here's the banana bread recipe.
- 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 3 large, ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt together in separate bowl. Stir in whole wheat flour. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. Fold in mashed bananas, vanilla, and walnuts. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then cool on rack.
I substituted the coconut for the nuts and poured batter into four small loaf pans. Little loaves of bread make wonderful gifts. They communicate friendship and appreciation without making the recipient worry about reciprocating with a return gift.
Gifts of banana bread stoke flames of friendship and keep everybody warm. Enjoy.
Comments