Snack · Sweet Fried Plantain

Mizuzu (Fried Plantains)

📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Ben Iwara / Unsplash · Unsplash License

Rwanda grows so many bananas that different varieties are kept for cooking, for frying, for eating raw, and for brewing banana beer.

Mizuzu are ripe plantains sliced and deep-fried until their natural sugars caramelize at the edges, sometimes finished with a drizzle of honey or a dusting of sugar. Vendors sell them hot from roadside stalls and market corners across Rwanda.

Why it's made this way: Plantains grow abundantly across Rwanda's hillsides, and frying the overripe fruit is a simple way for vendors to turn a cheap, plentiful crop into a quick-selling snack that needs no refrigeration.