Want to make your “paksiw na pata” and “pata tim” more delectable?  Well, dried banana flowers, considered as rare dining fare, added to the dishes is the answer.  And here’s how to do it.

becca_bananabudslargeIngredients:

Fresh flowers of Saba variety

4 cups of water

1 tbsp Sodium metabisulfate (for every kilogram of banana flowers)

Sugar

Vinegar

Soy sauce

Procedure:

  1. Cut off fresh flower stems and stalks and remove the brittle midrib.  Wrap in clean cloth.
  2. Boil 4 cups of water with 1 tbsp.  of sodium metabisulfate.
  3. Soak the wrapped flowers in the boiling solution for 5 minutes.  Drain.
  4. In equal amounts of sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce, soak the flowers overnight.
  5. Drain flowers again.  Allow to dry under the sun.  pack in jars, can s of plastic bags.  Seal.

Photo courtesy:  heavytable

Source:  “Agriscope”, The Philippines’ Agribusiness Magazine. Quezon City:  World Media Groove, Inc. May 1987.