The best plantains are from Eden! See the message I got from my friend who uses the Eden Life meal plan. She has a special place in her heart for Dodo (fried plantain), and according to her, ‘I can never get tired of eating it.
She loves all types of plantain, and she was glad I put her on the Dodo and Garri combo (you should try it).
I have seen a little behind the scene of processes in the food production team, and I know it’s not just plantain to them. It is a data-driven process that is tailored to ensure the best-looking plantains that are delicious for Eden Life’s customers.
I reached out to some members of the food production team to get a grasp of the lifecycle of plantains, from farm/market to table.
According to Neky, our procurement analyst, the plantains are sourced from different vendors. ‘We always ensure that we are going with the best source because quality is very important to us’. This rigorous process is followed by some quality assurance to ensure the plantain is the right size, shape, color, and texture.
When the perfect plantain is found, it is transported to our food production facility, where it is stored and prepped for consumption.
Ayooluwa and Ademiju, our Nutritionists have determined the calorie information. Defining how many grams of plantain equals what amount of caloric intake.
According to Ayo, fried plantain will not have the same calories as boiled or roasted. This is because fried foods generally have higher fat content due to the oil absorbed during the frying process. For every 1 gram of fat gotten from frying, you get an extra 9 kcal.
He was writing and calculating a bunch of mathematical solutions while telling me this; I was intrigued, what has maths got to do with plantains?
MEAL SELECTION
A customer chooses their meal on the Eden app. Order here!
PREP
The Prep team has 6 stations;
- flour and grains, root vegetables and fresh herbs,
- tubers,
- proteins,
- pepper, tomato, leafy vegetables and
- condiments
Plantain falls in the Tuber station.
At about 8 pm, data is drawn from Lighthouse (Eden’s internal tracking system), and the plantains are weighed, washed, and cut into appropriate sizes.
A basic rule is followed;
- small circular cuts for fried plantain as a side,
- large straight chunks for roasted and boiled plantains,
- big diagonal cuts for fried plantain main, and
- the porridge cut is into small bite-sized chunks.
Grains (rice, beans, couscous, pasta, etc) are weighed, and tubers (chunky plantains, yam, potatoes, etc) are counted.
Now back to plantains, for fried plantain as a side meal, the raw weight for each portion is 120 grams. If 100 customers choose this, it means that the prep team will be prepping;
120 grams x 100 portions of plantains for frying (raw weight) which is equal to 12,000 grams or 12kg.
Chef Segun mentioned something about contingency, and he said ‘We fry 2 extra portions just in case of an emergency’.
COOK
The Chef/Cook unit also called the Back of House, also uses Lighthouse to confirm that the prep team has handed over the correct portions. Then, they fry, (roast, or boil the plantains).
When they are done, the serving weight is measured, that’s the weight the customer gets. This is 80 grams and they multiply this by the serving portions of 100 and arrive at a total of 8000 grams or 8kg. A takeaway here is that the raw weight of food is not the serving weight, it can increase or decrease.
Remember the 2 contingency portions, they are used to replace the weird-looking, burnt, or out-of-place bits of plantain so that each customer gets eye-pleasing portions (we eat with our eyes first).
The Chef/Cook unit rounds up between 4 am and 6:30 am (with 6:30 am being the official Stove-off time). And the Plating Associates (Front of House) take over.
PLATE
Plating starts around 6:30 am and each customer’s meal is plated according to what they select on the app. The meals are wrapped, sleeved, and handed over to the Order Fulfilment Associates (OFAs). They make sure that the meals are assigned, shipped, and ready to be delivered to the customers. The timeline for this must be between 9 am and 11 am so all hands are on deck.
SHIP
The riders pick up and deliver the meals to customers. One of whom is my friend, who loves her plantains, as I said earlier.
So to answer her question, which is probably yours as well. Even though Eden Life doesn’t own a plantain plantation, we always ensure you get the best ones.
Your plantain dreams are valid, we’re also delighted to fulfill such dreams. It’s quite literally a match made in plantain heaven.
Subscribe to an Eden Life meal plan today to enjoy an unlimited supply of plantain.