There are a LOT of bananas here in PNG. Almost everybody has at least a few bananas trees in their yard.

Bananas on the stalk – this is what an “average” sized stalk looks like: about 75-100 bananas.

We cut them off the stalk bunch by bunch.

Until the stalk looks like this

         Every once in a while we receive an over abundant supply of free bananas and being the resourceful people that we are, we hate to see any go to waste. So…we dry them, freeze them, blend them for smoothies, fruit leather, and popsicles, and alas…we even feed a few to Riley who thinks they are a special treat!

         Before we started processing this stalk of bananas, I looked out the front door to see Mikayla peeling bananas, walking across the deck, and throwing them out for Riley. He thought it was great.

Drying bananas:

Step 1 (After peeling):

Slice, slice, slice, slice…

…slice, slice, slice, slice…

Step 2

Lay them out on trays…

Step 3

Load the food dehydrator…

Step 4

Turn dehydrator on and go to bed.

Step 5

Wake up to a LOT of dried bananas.

Banana sizes

Baby Banana

Baby Banana with Mommy and Daddy Bananas.  The “big” one is about the size of a normal banana in the USA, and they get even bigger than that!!