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00:00:00Let's find out how it all happens.
00:00:07First, it starts to
00:00:41Gesba has human resources and technical vehicles to collect
00:00:44cases of bananas for those who don't have their own transport or
00:00:48labor in
00:00:48Madeira.
00:00:55As we all know, most of the land is in areas that are very
00:00:59difficult to access. It's not possible to mechanize those paths,
00:01:02so the bananas are all transported on
00:01:04people's backs.
00:01:09It's a very hard, hard job associated with the scarcity of labor.
00:01:14sugars, Currently, it's not yet possible,
00:01:16vegetable fiber, and but we believe that in the future, the work will be less arduous in the field,
00:01:18with, for example, drones, aerial cables for transporting cargo,
00:01:22and monorails, as we already have in Madalena do Mar.
00:01:25But currently, the most efficient process is effectively transportation
00:01:29in the field.
00:02:30it carries out this selection and destemming process, packaging, and also
00:02:33the dispatch and sale process in the market abroad.
00:02:54The great added value of this process is that there is a logistical chain
00:02:57of support for the customer. There is
00:03:00predictability of outflow, there is predictability of the selling
00:03:04price, because the price is fixed throughout the year, and there is predictability of
00:03:08receipt, because every 15 days the producers receive
00:03:11the result of their banana sale, entering here at Xesla.
00:03:32What we currently see are processing lines and an infrastructure that was
00:03:36created in 2023, but previously the process was much more
00:03:39archaic. People worked almost all day from
00:03:42the wells, food safety was not ideal. There were
00:03:46controls that existed
00:03:48for the growth of the sector, the needs for food safety and
00:03:52the evolution of technology itself. We already have
00:03:55processing with completely different and much
00:03:59better conditions.
00:04:05Especially now in the summer, there are many bananas that, unfortunately, do not comply
00:04:09with European Union standards for classification purposes, but are good for
00:04:12consumption. The priority is if the
00:04:16we process bananas from producer wants to take it home for their family members, they can take it, even if there's no surplus. So what do we
00:04:20do? There are social institutions, we donate it without
00:04:23any cost so that they can meet the needs of these
00:04:26institutions.
00:04:36In 2023, we reached a production of
00:04:3925,200 tons, which was the production peak of recent
00:04:42years. Associated with that, we are the
00:04:45crop with the largest export to the continental market.
00:05:03Between 80 and 85% of the production is for the continental
00:05:06market, which is our preferred market, and the remaining
00:05:1015-20% stays in the regional
00:05:12market.
00:05:18The main purpose of the banana is green commercialization, in
00:05:21bunches. Nevertheless, there are bananas that do not comply with European
00:05:25Union regulations for the purpose of granting aid for them, but are
00:05:29good for consumption. These are bananas that we commonly call "bagged
00:05:32bananas". What do we do? We explore the
00:05:35processing market, which is why there are already operators making dehydrated bananas,
00:05:39fried bananas, freeze-dried bananas, and
00:05:42waters, and the objective is to eliminate waste and valorize
00:05:46all these products for other
00:05:47purposes.
00:05:52Madeira bananas also give rise to other products, with a
00:05:56flavor that makes them so special. This is the case
00:05:59of this ice cream, produced with a banana from our region
00:06:03that shows how a traditional product can
00:06:06take on new forms. This is the second product we
00:06:10will discover today.
00:06:22The main ingredients for making banana gelato are banana,
00:06:28water.
00:06:29When the
00:06:34banana arrives, we have to wash it to
00:06:37peel it and then make
00:06:39the pulp.
00:06:46It has to be very ripe to give more flavor to the ice cream.
00:06:50The riper it is, the
00:06:51better.
00:06:57My recipes are all inspired by someone, some ice cream chef, something I
00:07:01learned in the places where I studied, adapted to the
00:07:04reality of the fructose or the sweetness of Madeira
00:07:08banana,
00:07:10to create a banana ice cream. Banana is a product
00:07:14that oxidizes immensely very quickly. We have to be careful
00:07:18and pay attention so that the product always maintains its original
00:07:22color, because ice cream is something that is eaten initially with the
00:07:25eyes.
00:07:31Then it's about keeping the sugar really at a minimum, because no one
00:07:35likes very sweet ice cream, and it's just about paying attention
00:07:38to the balance of the recipe.
00:07:45Meanwhile, we have the banana in a bowl, we mix
00:07:49the sugars with the water, the water will be lukewarm and
00:08:08then we have to take it to a turbomix, which is a slow mixer to give more
00:08:12emotion
00:08:13to the ice cream.
00:08:19It has to rest for at least 4 hours. The more it rests, the more
00:08:23refined it becomes, the more flavor the banana
00:08:25gives,
00:08:33and then it goes to the producer, which is where we then pour the
00:08:37product to turn it into
00:08:38ice cream.
00:08:50There's a rotary process, it freezes and
00:08:53becomes ice cream, the texture becomes
00:08:55creamy.
00:09:00Two people there, one weighing and preparing
00:09:03things, the other going to the ice cream
00:09:05machine.
00:09:08The most I've ever made was 120 kg in a day.
00:09:27when we take the ice cream out of the machine, we have to put it automatically in the
00:09:30blast chiller. It has to stay there for at least half an hour. If it stays
00:09:34longer, there's no problem, but it has to stay there for at least half an hour. Then we have to
00:09:38cover the top part well so that air doesn't get in, and then
00:09:41it goes to the
00:09:43cold room.
00:09:48Our ice cream cannot be found in supermarkets. A true artisanal
00:09:51ice cream has a lot of fruit. Any of our fruit ice creams
00:09:54contains 50% fruit or more. We would have to lower the
00:09:58quality of the ice cream a lot to have something that was really competitive and that a supermarket could
00:10:02buy. At the moment, we have a shop in Ajuda, our
00:10:05main shop. Then we have shops that collaborate
00:10:09with us and sell our product, such as Fajã dos Padres,
00:10:12Magnólia, and the Banana Museum, which is currently our
00:10:16main partner, especially for banana
00:10:18ice cream.
00:10:32We want to have a creamy ice cream, we want to replicate
00:10:35the flavor of the banana, we don't want to sweeten it, we don't want to remove flavor, and
00:10:39we want to give it a smooth texture, like eating a frozen banana.
00:10:54Then, what we have for dogs is something really interesting that appeared
00:10:58right at the beginning of our
00:11:00project.
00:11:06All the ice creams that we call for dogs are lactose-free, sugar-free
00:11:09ice creams, so they are only made with fructose and fruit or
00:11:13milk or lactose-free
00:11:15yogurt.
00:11:22All people who have dogs have dogs very close to them. They are like children to
00:11:25us. The joy of eating an ice cream and seeing your
00:11:29pet very happy also eating an ice cream
00:11:33is really something fantastic.
00:11:45The versatility of banana goes far beyond fresh consumption.
00:11:48We came to the Balancal distillery
00:11:51to discover how this product gets a new use
00:11:55through such an
00:11:56ancestral process.
00:12:02This project was born with the idea of making only fruit brandy. As it was born at a very
00:12:06controversial and complicated time, during
00:12:10COVID, we decided that the only way to survive would be to expand our
00:12:13portfolio. Currently, we produce gin, whiskey, and
00:12:16other drinks as well, in addition to
00:12:18brandies.
00:12:23In a small town like ours, we only make...
00:12:25if it's genuine, and as such, it's only genuine to use the
00:12:29flavors, the fruits, the ingredients that the island has to offer. Madeira
00:12:32banana can have many destinations, besides arriving
00:12:36daily at our tables, it is also transformed into products
00:12:39that show its versatility. Banana
00:12:43brandy is one of these cases, and this is the third product we
00:12:46will learn about
00:12:47today.
00:12:51To make a banana brandy, discarded bananas can be perfectly used.
00:12:55We don't use it. The fundamental thing is
00:12:58to ensure that only bananas that are in good condition are used.
00:13:02The banana we use happened to be ugly or
00:13:06crooked or had some small spots and the skin was damaged. The market does not
00:13:10value these bananas. This banana is normally discarded
00:13:14and ends up in the landfill. We
00:13:17buy this banana from Gesba. We have
00:13:20about two or three tons weekly. This
00:13:24banana comes semi-ripened, arrives here, rests for three,
00:13:28four, five days depending on the ambient temperature, so that it is,
00:13:32if possible, all at the same level of ripeness. Then the banana is
00:13:35manually selected, peeled, and
00:13:39we only use good fruit in good
00:13:42condition.
00:13:46Peeling the banana is still manual
00:13:48because the machine doesn't smell the banana, and the
00:13:52only way to ensure it's a good banana is if... if the banana has a strange
00:13:56appearance, it's not without reason that it's disqualified, it's not
00:13:59discarded. Sometimes it does indeed have a strange appearance, and
00:14:03we smell it. If it smells good enough to make a family cake
00:14:06for the family,
00:14:07we use it.
00:14:11Since we started the project, we have already processed about 100 tons of
00:14:14bananas, which is nothing, considering the amount of banana that is actually
00:14:17wasted. But if we consider that one person spends 4 hours
00:14:21of manual labor to peel about 200 kg of bananas, which will give us about
00:14:2520 bottles, it is significant.
00:14:38By our own choice,
00:14:41October to May. Why? We like winter
00:14:45bananas more. They are bananas that ripen more slowly, have fresher
00:14:48aromas, and fermentation
00:14:52in winter, when the temperature is lower, is longer.
00:15:04After the banana is pressed, it stays in the
00:15:07fermenter, and we take a set of
00:15:11measurements to see if that juice has the
00:15:14conditions for the yeasts to develop.
00:15:17Normally, what is called Brix, which is the percentage of sugar
00:15:21that is in the banana. We also measure the pH, which is
00:15:25a measure of acidity.
00:15:28When we have it at a certain level, that juice has the
00:15:31ideal conditions for the yeast to develop. We take
00:15:35yeast, we buy a yeast that is lyophilized
00:15:38and mix it into the
00:15:42juice. The yeast starts to do its work.
00:15:45reproduce, going from a few million to many millions of
00:15:48yeasts to survive. The yeast transforms the sugar
00:15:51in that juice into alcohol and carbon
00:15:54dioxide.
00:16:01I would say that in winter we can average fermentations of one
00:16:05month, sometimes a month and a half in the coldest months, and
00:16:09when we measure and reach the conclusion that the density
00:16:13is one, that is, it has the density of water, it means
00:16:16that there are no more sugars to ferment, and this
00:16:20product is then ready to be
00:16:23distilled.
00:16:30The main thing is water, which has a boiling temperature of 100
00:16:34degrees. Next, I would say it's alcohol, in this case, around
00:16:386, 6.5%. Then it has
00:16:41aromatic components.
00:16:46We start to increase the temperature slowly. When the temperature reaches
00:16:5080°, the alcohol starts to evaporate and
00:16:53comes out, and then the aromatic components come out, and finally
00:16:57the water. The role of the distiller is to make what we call
00:17:00the cut, which is to decide when there are
00:17:03no more bad products. We
00:17:06cut it. We set aside the hearts. The hearts are
00:17:10good distillate that has the aroma of the fruit we are dealing with, in this case
00:17:14banana.
00:17:14Ours is 450 liters. If we
00:17:23fill the still with 450 liters
00:17:27of fermented banana, we will be able to make 80
00:17:30bottles.
00:17:37When the product comes out of the still, we have to
00:17:39reduce that alcohol content to the
00:17:43alcohol content that will be bottled. Here, we
00:17:46bottle at around 43%, so we will add
00:17:49pure water. Then we let it
00:17:53rest for a minimum of 6 months.
00:18:13Producing banana brandy is almost residual in the world.
00:18:17There are very few companies doing it, and we understand why: it's very
00:18:21difficult to do. And thanks to the time we had on our hands, we managed to
00:18:24produce it. We managed to have a product that makes us proud and that has already brought us a lot of
00:18:28merit.
00:18:33We always go outside. What do we have here? We have brandy, we have sugarcane?
00:18:37Okay, there are other mills, but there are tons of bananas. Why was it never
00:18:41done? We came to the conclusion that banana is very difficult to
00:18:44ferment. The banana we use has no peel. It's in the
00:18:48peel that natural yeast is usually found. We did
00:18:52experiments with 26 different types of yeasts.
00:18:55Of those 26, two are the ones we are using.