And I bet that many of the restaurants around here are probably using the same product. Obviously I have never used them, but is there really something to figure out about fresh plantains?

According to my Latina neighbors, the answer is Yes. I have no other info.

Perhaps we need a plantain thread?

I seem to recall a Cuban friend of mine claiming that somehow frozen plantains, at least for the purpose of frying them, were preferable to fresh. She claimed they were more tender when fried frozen.

I fried up some fresh ones recently and enjoyed them very much. I fried them twice actually-- once as a 1/2 inch thick slice, then again after smashing the fried slice down to about 1/4 inch. They were great for scooping up guacamole.

My apologies to the dr.com dieters out there (myself included).

I would imagine some of it has to do with the tendency to get some really fibrous ones when you but them fresh. I'd say much like a lot of frozen produce they probably get them at their peak and freeze really well. Probably cos there's a lot less water so the water crystals don't mess up the cells.

I've had some fried ones in SF that were amazing and were a little caramelized. I've been trying to replicate the effect with some sugar and the broiler.

It's hard to find well-made plantains in area restaurants or to do them at home. The problem is that most plantains you find are not ripe enough to make maduros, which in Spanish means ripened. To make maduros you need plantains that are almost completely black. Most made around here are at the yellow stage, which does not have enough sugar to caremelize properly and give that soft melt in your mouth consistency. The reason frozen plantains work well is that they are cooked at the correct stage of ripening. By the way, you can make tostones with green plantains. Like good french fries, they need to be twice fried.

Here is a recipe from Three Guys from Miami:

http://icuban.com/food/platanos_maduros.html

Another on tostones:

http://www.tostobueno.com/home.html