Extremely ripe bananas (along with sourdough) were among the must-have ingredients at the beginning of shelter-in-place orders, when it seemed like everyone was baking for comfort. But while bread flour and sourdough starter became much harder to find in the spring, we always have bananas — America’s most popular fruit — for our banana bread baking and, if you’re getting creative, building layers of banana pudding.

According to culinary historian Robert Moss, bananas began to touch down in small numbers