Banana chips

Banana chips

Banana chips are deep-fried and/or dried slices of banana, covered with sugar or honey. The chips are crispy and have a sweet taste. Variants of banana chips may be covered with chocolate salt instead.

Fried

Usually, the chips are produced from underripe bananas, of which slices are deep-fried in oil, which are then dried, and to which preservatives may be added. These varieties of chips can be very oily, due to the deep-frying process.

Another form of fried banana chips, usually made in Kerala (India) and known locally as 'upperi', is fried in coconut oil. Both ripe and unripe bananas are used for this variant. Sometimes they are coated with masala or jaggery to form both spicy and sweet variants. It is an integral part of the traditional Kerala meal called sadhya had during weddings and traditional festivals such as Onam.

To avoid confusion, it may help to understand the difference between banana and plantain. In Kerala, contrary to commonly accepted definitions, plantains are the small sweet fruits and bananas are the large fruits. So in Kerala, unripe bananas(the large fruits) are used to make salted and sweet chips. Partially ripe plantains (the smaller sweeter fruits) are also fried into chips.

The most popular banana chips in the state of Kerala are made in Kozhikode(Calicut Chips), which is also well known for its halwa.

Garden - a food/snacks company sells packed Yellow Banana chips which are very popular.

Dried

However, some healthier varieties of banana chips can be produced using only food dehydration. Banana slices that are only dehydrated are light brown and leathery. They are very sweet and have an intense banana flavor. They are ideally made from bananas that are fully ripe. Some are made from putting them in the oven and baking them, although there is question to whether there is the same intense banana flavor.

Uses and variations

The chips are often part of muesli and nut mixes.

Other chips, like for example the patacónes (singular: patacón), are salty.

Similar chips can also be made from plantains, which are starchier varieties of bananas.