Origins: Philippine
Some varieties of banana chips can be produced using only food dehydration. Banana slices that are only dehydrated are not dark yellow and crunchy, but rather are brown, leathery and chewy. They are very sweet and have an intense banana flavour. These are ideally made from bananas that are fully ripe.
Another kind is made by baking in an oven, although this process may not result in the same intense banana flavour.
Fried banana chips, usually made in the Indian state of Kerala, and known locally as nenthra-kaaya oopperi or upperi, are fried in coconut oil. Both ripe and unripe bananas are used for this variant. Sometimes they are coated with masala or jaggery to form spicy and sweet variants respectively. It is an integral part of the traditional Kerala meal called sadya served during weddings and traditional festivals such as Onam.
The chips are often part of muesli and nut mixes. Other chips, such as patacones, are salty.
Similar chips called chifle are made from plantains, the family of fruit that bananas come from. (In tropical Latin American cultures, all bananas are considered plantains, but not all plantains are bananas.) Bananas are the small sweet fruits and plantains are the large fruits. These deep-fried plantain chips are also quite popular in the southeastern part of Mexico, especially in the state of Tabasco, where the company Charricos produces and commercializes an assortment of sweet, salty and spicy plantain snacks.
