How to Keep a Banana Leaf From Browning for a Rice Wrap

You have to treat banana leaves like other vegetables to prevent them from browning when cooking or serving rice in them. Banana leaves are natural multi-taskers and versatile, albeit inedible, pieces of vegetation, but they're as vulnerable to oxygenation and enzymatic browning as other greens. Banana leaves won't oxygenate in the presence of moisture, so keeping them wet is the first step in preventing brown discoloration. You can use citric acid to take care of the browning that results from the enzymes that banana leaves contain.

Things You'll Need

Vegetable brush

Lemon

Instructions

Scrub the sections of banana leaves with a vegetable brush, while holding them under cool running water.
Place the leaves in a bowl or shallow dish and cover them with a few inches of cold water. Squeeze a lemon into the water.
Soak the leaves for 24 hours in the refrigerator, changing the water out for fresh at the 12-hour mark. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Blanch the leaves for 1 minute, then hold them under cold running water for 1 minute.
Fill the banana leaves with the rice mixture and form packets secured with kitchen twine.
Place the glutinous rice packets in a pot and cover them with a few inches of cold water if making traditional joong. Boil the rice packets until the rice congeals and forms a solid mass, about 2 1/2 hours.
If you're making a non-glutinous rice packet, fill a pot about 3/4 full of water and bring it to a boil. Insert a steamer basket in the pot, add the rice packets and cover. Steam the rice packets for 15 minutes and serve.

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