Why Only the Nendran Banana Makes Perfect Chips (And What Makes It So Special)

Every story we have told so far — from the 2,000-year history of banana chips to the nutritional comparison with potato chips to the role of coconut oil in snack making — keeps circling back to one ingredient: the Nendran banana. It is time to give this remarkable fruit the spotlight it deserves.

What Makes Nendran Different from Every Other Banana

Walk into a fruit shop anywhere in the world and you will likely see Cavendish bananas — the slim, bright yellow variety that dominates global trade. Now walk into a Kerala market and look for the Nendran. It is almost comically different.

• Size: Nendran bananas are 20 to 25 cm long and noticeably thicker than Cavendish. A single banana can weigh 200 to 250 grams.
• Shape: Angular, with prominent ridges along the length. When you cut one crosswise, the slice is not a perfect circle — it has edges.
• Colour: Green when raw (the chip-making stage), turning deep yellow to golden brown when ripe.
• Flesh: Firm, dense, and starchy when raw. Creamy and mildly sweet when ripe. Nothing like the soft, sugary flesh of a Cavendish.

This is not a dessert banana. This is a cooking banana — closer in function to a potato than to the fruit you slice onto cereal. And that starchy, firm character is exactly what makes it irreplaceable for chip making.

The Starch Science: Why Nendran Makes the Best Chips

The secret is in the numbers. Nendran bananas contain roughly 41 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, with a significant portion being resistant starch. This is considerably higher than Cavendish bananas (23g) or even regular cooking plantains (31g).

When you slice a high-starch banana thin and drop it into hot oil, several things happen simultaneously:

• The surface starch rapidly dehydrates, forming a rigid, glassy crust
• The internal moisture escapes as steam, creating micro-pockets of air within the chip
• The resistant starch molecules realign as they cool, creating a structure that stays crispy for days
• The natural sugars in the banana undergo caramelisation at the surface, producing the golden colour and sweet undertone

A low-starch banana cannot do any of this well. It has too much moisture and sugar, producing chips that are soggy, overly sweet, and stale within hours. This is why chip makers across Kerala and Tamil Nadu refuse to use any other variety.

GI-Tagged Royalty: The Chengalikodan Nendran

Among Nendran varieties, one stands above the rest: the Chengalikodan Nendran from Thrissur district. In 2015, it received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag — the same kind of protection given to Darjeeling tea, Champagne, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

The Chengalikodan is distinguished by its slightly reddish skin, larger size, and a subtly sweeter flesh compared to other Nendran varieties. It is considered the premium choice for both chip making and Kerala's beloved pazham pori (banana fritters).

Beyond Chips: Nendran in Kerala Cuisine

Banana chips may be the most famous use, but Nendran plays many roles in a Kerala kitchen:

Pazham Pori (Banana Fritters): Ripe Nendran slices dipped in a sweetened flour batter and deep-fried. The combination of caramelised banana and crispy batter is perhaps Kerala's most popular teatime snack after chips.

Ethakka Appam: Mashed ripe Nendran mixed with rice flour, jaggery, and coconut, shaped into discs and shallow-fried. A traditional sweet preparation for festivals.

Pradhaman / Payasam: Ripe Nendran simmered in coconut milk with jaggery to create a rich, creamy dessert. Ethakka pradhaman is an essential part of the Onam Sadya feast.

Steamed and Mashed: Raw Nendran, steamed until tender, is a breakfast staple in many Kerala homes. Served with a spicy chutney or simply with coconut oil and salt.

Baby Food: Steamed and mashed Nendran is often the first solid food given to infants in Kerala. Its high nutrient density and easy digestibility make it ideal.

Farming Nendran: A Labour-Intensive Crop

Nendran cultivation is not simple. The plants take 12 to 14 months from planting to harvest — significantly longer than the 9 to 10 months for Cavendish. Each plant produces only one bunch, and each bunch yields 5 to 8 hands of bananas.

The plants are vulnerable to Panama disease (Fusarium wilt), leaf spot diseases, and pseudostem weevils. Kerala's humid tropical climate, while perfect for growth, also encourages fungal infections. Farmers must balance irrigation, drainage, and disease management constantly.

Most Nendran farming in Kerala is done on small family plots of 1 to 3 acres. These are not industrial plantations. They are the same farms that have been growing bananas for generations, using knowledge passed down through families.

Why We Are Particular About Our Nendran

At Faaro, we source our Nendran bananas from farmers in Kerala's traditional banana-growing regions. We are particular about maturity — only raw, green fruit at the correct starch level. We are particular about freshness — bananas are sliced and fried within days of harvest, not weeks.

This attention to the raw material is why our banana chips taste the way they do. You cannot make a great chip from an ordinary banana, just as you cannot make great wine from ordinary grapes. The ingredient is the foundation. Everything else — the coconut oil, the turmeric, the salt-water technique — builds on that foundation.

The Nendran banana is not just an ingredient in our snacks. It is the reason our snacks exist.