Muffins
A muffin secret for everyone, discourse on bananas, and my apple carrot muffin recipe.
My Muffin Secret
This year, I think I’ve learned the secret to delicious muffins. It all began during the spring of this year when I bought bananas at the store, and some more bananas at the store, and THEN my mom came to town and bought bananas at the store1. Banana bonanza. For a few weeks, banana nut-muffins were a hot commodity in our kitchen. I followed this recipe pretty consistently, with one exception. My egg consumption fluctuates, so when baking I sometimes substitute flax meal with water2 for eggs. The first time I made the muffins following the previous recipe, I substituted the eggs for flax and the muffins were perfect!! When I made the recipe the next time they were a bit dry, at least relative to the first batch. At the time, I wasn’t exactly sure what I did differently. I might’ve blundered separating the wet and dry or using a different oil, however, when I went to make the recipe a third time (in hindsight my banana nut muffin consumption was in full swing) I recalled and attributed the stark difference to having used eggs in the previous batch instead of flax “eggs”. All this to say, flax is your friend for making moisture-laden muffins, so don’t think twice to skip the eggs :)
The Ethics of Bananas
In writing that first bit, I’ve realize that I have a relatively high banana intake. I don’t feel wonderful about that because I known for some time that the banana industry is, largely, not positively impact the world around us. I have purposely avoided learning more about that reality because I just really love bananas. Nevertheless, if I’m going to eat bananas, I think it’s best if I do so with a consciousness of how it affects the world around me.
The banana industry
🍌 Banana plantations are monocultures3. This means we produce one variety of bananas for our consumption which makes that variety highly susceptible to pests and disease. Therefore, a huge amount of pesticides and chemicals are used to prevent the decline of bananas. There is a phenomena called the pesticide treadmill- as the pests and diseases being combatted adapt to the agrochemicals, even more chemicals are needed. This is an example of a positive feedback loop, where the inputs exacerbate the problem. Therefore, monocultures and pesticides are not a sustainable and viable means of agriculture :(
Keep scrolling for me to touch on the ethicality of banana consumption.
A 1 to 2.5 ratio (1 tbsp of flax meal and 2 1/2 tbsp of water).
“The Problem With Bananas | Environmental & Social Issues in the Trade.” Banana Link, https://www.bananalink.org.uk/the-problem-with-bananas/.