On my trip to Greece, most of the food I saw being sold was pretty standard, not things that made me go “huh?” Other than this. This was in Vera’s mom’s fridge and I had never seen them before. Her mom called it banana hearts, which Vera told me is a banana flower, and that you can use it as a vegetable.

I peeled off the outside layers, but once they started being mostly while I put those aside as well.

I took out the blossoms and set them aside, cleaning them as instructed in another video. But I didn’t use them for this salad, since they ended up tasting chalky raw.

I sliced up the purplish white and totally white center of the blossom, and then chopped it finely. I then soaked it in lemony water, to remove bitterness and chalkiness.

After 30 minutes, I strained it. Many banana flower recipes hail from Asia, so I decided to do this with a similar Asian style seasoning, mostly Korean style. I added vinegar (apple cider vinegar is my basic), soy sauce, garlic powder, ginger, hot pepper flakes, sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, and then added some julienned carrots and scallions for color.

Tastes delicious.

I served it, as traditional, using the outer banana flower leaves as little serving plates.