I lived in Korea until I was fifteen.

No matter how long I live in the U.S., the taste of the foods I had as a child is hard to forget. One of those is banana milk.

As a child, I often went to the bathhouse in Suwon with my father. After soaking in the hot tub and getting scrubbed, my father would buy me a banana milk.

At that time, the banana milk from the bathhouse was the best in the world. Holding the cold glass bottle in my hand and taking a sip, the sweet banana aroma would rise up. It seems trivial now, but I still remember that taste.

In the U.S., you can easily find banana milk at Korean grocery stores. I occasionally buy it, but it feels a bit different from when I was a child.

That's not to say it doesn't taste good. It's just that the banana flavor is so consistent and strong that it sometimes feels more like a drink made with banana flavoring than actual fruit.

So, for the past few years, I've been making it at home.

Milk is relatively cheap in the U.S. and has a rich flavor. Bananas are also easy to find at any grocery store and are reasonably priced.

With such good ingredients, I wondered if there was really a need to buy the ready-made version.

How to Make Banana Milk

The ingredients are very simple.

• 250ml of milk

• 1 ripe banana

• 1 teaspoon of honey or sugar (optional)

• A pinch of salt

• 1-2 drops of vanilla extract (optional)

I usually use whole milk.

Among U.S. milks, whole milk with fat pairs well with bananas. You can use low-fat milk, but the rich flavor will be a bit weaker.

Choose bananas that have started to develop brown spots on the skin.

This is the first secret.

Bananas with a few brown spots are sweeter and have a stronger aroma than those that are perfectly yellow.

Bananas that are too under-ripe can have a grassy smell when blended with milk.

Secrets to Intensifying the Banana Flavor

I've learned a few methods from making it several times.

The first is to freeze the bananas. Peel and cut ripe bananas into pieces and store them in the freezer until you're ready to use them.

When you blend frozen bananas with milk, you get a cold and thick banana milk without needing to add ice.

However, freezing doesn't actually make the banana flavor stronger. It mainly helps prevent the taste from becoming diluted due to the ice.

The second is to not add too much milk. At first, I used about 400ml of milk for one banana, but it tasted quite bland.

Now, I use about 200-250ml of milk for one banana. The banana flavor is much richer and creamier.

The third is vanilla extract. The key here is the amount. Just one or two drops are enough.

The vanilla aroma helps enhance the sweet scent of the banana.

If you add too much, it turns into a vanilla milkshake instead of banana milk.

Also, add just a pinch of salt. A few grains added with your fingers will help accentuate the sweetness.

Don't Blend for Too Long

Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend for about 20-30 seconds. Once the banana is smooth enough, you can stop.

If you blend for too long, it creates a lot of foam and raises the temperature of the milk slightly.

I usually drink it right after blending. If you wait too long, the banana will oxidize, changing the color and reducing the fresh aroma.

If the banana is sweet enough, I don't add sugar or honey.

This way, the color won't be as bright yellow as store-bought banana milk. Instead, it's closer to ivory.

However, the actual banana flavor is much stronger.

A Slightly Different Taste from Bathhouse Banana Milk

Honestly, the banana milk I make at home doesn't taste exactly like the one I had at the bathhouse as a child.

The banana milk I drank back then might have been closer to a flavor created by banana flavoring and sugar.

But the reason that taste remains in my memory isn't just because of the drink.

It's likely the time spent with my father at the bathhouse, the coolness after soaking in the hot water, and the cold milk taken from the bathhouse fridge that I remember.

Now, when I blend bananas and milk at my home in Fullerton, I sometimes think back to those days.

The taste may be a bit different, but that's okay. The rich flavor of American milk and the natural sweetness of ripe bananas blend well in their own way.

It doesn't cost much to make, and it only takes about 2 minutes.

If you like banana milk, give it a try. It's especially important to use well-ripened bananas and to add a little less milk.

Of course, it can't be as delicious as the banana milk from those days, which was enhanced by the memories of my father buying it for me at the bathhouse in Suwon.