Name: Grandma's No Bananas Foster Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup butter; 1/4 cup apple juice; 1/4 tsp cinnamon; 2 tbsp rum

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Bananas foster holds a soft spot in my little foodie heart.

Years ago, my grandma and I took a trip together to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. It was an amazing trip. I got to spend time with not only my grandma, but also my great aunt who was living there at the time. Besides the fantastic company, beautiful scenery, and salty air there was an assortment of deliciously fresh foods. It’s all I need for an unforgettable vacation.

My auntie Muggs was one of my favourite people. She was fun and tough and always enjoyed a great meal. She would send me recipes in the mail of foods similar to those we had eaten while in St. Croix. I miss her. She passed away about a week before I met my husband. I like to think she gave destiny a good hard shove in my direction.

While we were on the island, we ate out almost daily. The food was amazing. So fresh. So delicious. My aunt always insisted on dessert, obviously I never objected, it’s dessert after all. She and I would order dessert and my grandma, who is possibly the sweetest lady you could ever meet, would order a fork. In other words, she’d just share ours.

In an attempt to be completely transparent, I have a confession. I despise sharing food. It’s probably my biggest pet peeve. I believe in ordering what you want and leaving my meal alone. Any family member and even a few friends will agree, sharing food is not one of my strengths. Furthermore, I will deny this wholeheartedly, but a knuckle or two has been smacked at dinner time. I’m getting better, I swear.

My grandma armed with her fork, would wait at the ready to stab a few bites off my plate, needless to say I couldn’t really complain, she is my grandma after all. Inside though, I was trying to decide, was dessert really worth it, if it had to be shared. Not a proud moment on my behalf.

Midway through the vacation, we were dining at another great restaurant and around came the dessert menu. There it was, bananas foster. I love bananas foster. Seriously, how can you go wrong with warm caramel rum sauce and bananas poured over ice cream? It’s a treat I rarely pass up.

I waited for my grandma’s usual utensil order and nothing. She didn’t order a fork, or a spoon, nothing. She sat there quietly. What happened? Did I say something in my sleep. Had she caught my lame attempt to conceal my annoyance? I was mortified.

When the desserts finally arrived, I quickly offered my grandma a bite, hoping that would rectify any bad feelings. She declined. I dug a little deeper and it turns out she loathes bananas and I had no clue. I was overjoyed I hadn’t offended her, but even more so that I got to enjoy every spoonful of bananas fosters all to myself. In fact, I even ordered it once more while on vacation.

Call it karma, but as I’m getting older, I’m starting to understand my grandma’s dislike for the fruit. These days, if I’m going to eat a banana I prefer them with a slight green skin. If the skin is yellow or spotted I’ll pass. The soft bananas you’d fine in bananas foster no thank you!

Enter no bananas foster sauce. It is the perfect dessert for my grandma and apparently my aging palette. No soft bananas to deal with. Go ahead and stir in the bananas if you really want to, but I’ll have to side with grandma on this one and leave the mushy fruit at the store. If you do opt to leave the bananas out, I promise you won’t miss them.

You could say this no bananas foster sauce was created in my grandma’s honour. I know she’ll like this version. It’s basically the ultimate sundae topping and without the bananas, it looks like we may be back to a dessert I’ll have to share.