Ripening Miyakojima Island Bananas and Passion Fruit Alata Requires Patience

I bought some island bananas and passion fruit alata as souvenirs from Miyakojima to bring home.

Both items require post-harvest ripening, so they weren't ready to eat when I bought them. After returning home, a process of ripening—which I call leaving them in the kitchen—began.

▼This is a continuation of the following article!▼

Island Bananas: The trick is to let them ripen until they look like they've gone bad

Island bananas look different from the bananas sold in supermarkets. They are small and have a slightly rugged appearance. When I bought them, they were still quite green.

I read that the sign of ripeness is when they turn black, so I decided to trust that and leave them alone.

After about a week, they started to look like what you might call 'bad bananas.' The surface turned pitch black, and honestly, the color made me wonder if I should just throw them away. My husband also looked at them suspiciously from the side, asking, 'Are you sure these are okay...?'

I also wondered, 'Is this really okay...?' but decided to wait a little longer.

And when I finally ate them...they were incredibly delicious.

They had a rich sweetness and a creamy texture. They are completely different from regular bananas. My children ate them up, too. It felt like the sweetness inside was concentrated to match that 'bad' appearance, so that black color was actually the correct sign.

If you have leftovers, you can even turn them into ice cream. Isn't that amazing?

They were so delicious that I am seriously considering ordering them through the hometown tax donation program to ripen them at home. As for the island bananas, they were definitely worth the effort of ripening.

Passion Fruit Alata: The seeds are huge!?

For passion fruit alata, the sign of ripeness is when the skin becomes wrinkled, so I kept these in the kitchen alongside the bananas.

While waiting, there were parts where the skin looked like it was splitting, which made me worry, 'Is this okay...?' But after looking it up, I found that it's not a big problem even if they split, so I decided to keep watching over them.

It took about a week until they became wrinkled. The ripening period was about the same as for bananas.

And when I actually cut them open... the seeds were huge.

I knew that passion fruit had seeds, but the Alata seeds were so prominent that it felt more like I was struggling with the seeds than eating the pulp. The aroma was sweet, like honey, which was nice.But as for whether it was easy to eat, well, that's a bit tough.

To be honest, I also wonder if it would have been more delicious if I had managed to ripen it perfectly.

Actually, I have a memory of some passion fruit I ate on Niijima that was incredibly delicious, and in comparison,my honest opinion is that the Alata was a bit too sharp.It was a good lesson that things are completely different depending on the production area and variety. These things happen.

Waiting for full ripeness requires the 'power of belief'

After letting both of them ripen, I realized that waiting for full ripeness requires a certain kind of trust.

You keep waiting even when they look like they're 'past their prime.' Even when my husband asks, 'Are you sure this is okay...?', I keep answering, 'It should be fine...' That period of waiting is what leads to the deliciousness when you finally eat them.

As for the bananas, they completely lived up to that trust. If anything, it felt like the effort of waiting while in doubt was rewarded twofold.

As for the passion fruit, well, that was just one of those things that happens with travel souvenirs. I feel like I've developed the habit of checking 'Where is this from?' before I buy.

I will definitely buy island bananas again the next time I go to Miyakojima. Now that I have the confidence that I can wait for them to fully ripen.