Bananas, raw

Bananas are eaten out of hand more than almost any other fruit, but they are just as at home sliced over cereal or oatmeal, blended into a smoothie, mashed into banana bread or pancake batter, or sliced and frozen for a simple blended dessert. The texture and sweetness shift a lot with ripeness, from firm and starchy when green-tinged to soft and syrupy-sweet once the skin spots, which is why bakers often wait for very ripe, spotted bananas for banana bread. The flavor pairs naturally with peanut butter, oats, cinnamon, and chocolate, and the soft texture makes it an easy fruit to fold into batters without extra liquid.

Buy bananas at whatever ripeness stage suits the timeline: greener ones for eating in a few days, spotted ones for baking right away. Store them at room temperature away from other fruit to control how fast they ripen, and refrigerate once they reach the ripeness you want, which darkens the skin but keeps the flesh fine to eat for several more days. A typical serving (126 grams) is 89 calories, with 22.8 grams of carbohydrate and 12.2 grams of sugar per 100 grams reflecting the fruit's natural ripening process, and sodium is essentially negligible at just 1 milligram per 100 grams.