Plantain Chips

Plantains are starchy, non sweet bananas, common in tropical parts of the world, including on the island of Puerto Rico, which is a territory of the United States (people born on Puerto Rico are American citizens). Plantains are generally available in the produce sections of many supermarkets these days, and definitely in Latino markets, and make sure you look at the little sticker on them that says, "plaintain," because they are identical to the more common sweet bananas. Plantain chips, called "platanutres," in the Spanish of Puerto Rico, are one of the island's most common uses for this produce, but they are also common in other places in the Caribbean and in some South American countries. The "basic" recipe for these chips is the same all over, but for me, it was inspired by: "A Taste of Puerto Rico," by Yvonne Ortiz, Dutton, a division of Penguin Books, 1994. There are some slight variations in recipes from place to place, and from person to person.

Plantain chips are simple to make, but what is not so simple, is to be able to stop eating them:

2 green plantains
1 1/4 cups canola or vegetable oil
Puerto Rican adobo seasoning to taste*
(for a spicy kick, 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper)

Peel and very thinly slice the plantains. Add enough oil for an inch or 2 in a heavy duty skillet; cast iron is good for this, but not a necessity. Heat the oil, but it should not be smoking hot. Fry the chips in batches, removing them to paper towels to drain them as you go. Add Puerto Rican adobo to taste, and the 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, if using.

* Puerto Rican adobo is a type of seasoning, easily available in supermarkets, although perhaps in the "Hispanic/Latino Foods" section. I deliberately put "Puerto Rican adobo," as "adobo" can mean different things in Latino countries or in the Philippines, a country with Spanish influences (it was once a colony of Spain).

WORD HISTORY:
Plantain-There are two words of this spelling in English, but by far the more common is the one meaning, "a type of starchy banana using in cooking," although its pronunciation may well have been influenced by the other word.^ This word goes back to the "Carib" language of the "Cariban" family of languages, native to South America, which then spread to some of the islands of the Caribbean. This language family is much diminished in modern times, as its forms were often replaced by Spanish, Portuguese, French, English or Dutch in the areas colonized by the European speakers of these languages. The Carib word, "platana/blatana," meaning "banana," was borrowed into Spanish as "plántano" (early on likely influenced by the other Latin derived word, see note below), which then became "plátano." It was borrowed by English in the mid 1500s, but was likely influenced in spelling and pronunciation by the already borrowed word, "plantain" (see note below).

^ The other word of identical spelling is the name for a plant with broad, flat leaves, but it is from a form of the Latin word "plantago," which gave Old French, a heavily Latin-based language, "plantain," but it has nothing to do with the origins of the Carib word. This word "plantain" was borrowed by English in the 1400s from the French dialects brought to England by the Normans and other French speakers, thus called, "Anglo-Norman," which had a variety of spellings, like "plainteine, planteine, planteyne," but its English spelling seems to have been influenced directly by the continental French spelling, "plantain."