The Philippines has different varieties of banana - from the cooking variety
named saba, to small sweet latundan, to the bigger exportable
bongolan, to red-skinned morado, to full of seeds Espanola,
to small, finger-like senoritas. There are many uses to the saging.
The saba for example is used as a main ingredient for pochero, a hearty
meat stew, and also for sweets like turon, minatamis na saging,
ginataan, binayo and others. The heart of banana (puso ng saging)
is used as a vegetable. The leaves are used also for cooking as wraps for ibos, tinumis
and others. The pith of the banana trunk is also considered a delicacy in my
province of Aklan - we have a dish called manok nga inubaran - chicken with
banana pith - considered as the best vegetable dish in Aklan - as immortalized in
a song.
