Chifle

Chifle is a side dish, snack food, or finger food of Peru and Ecuador. Chifle is not to be confused with banana chips.

In Peru chifle is typical of the Piura Region. It consists of fried slices or strips of either ripe or green plantains seasoned with salt to taste. In the region of Piura, chifle is traditionally fried in wood-burning stoves with wood of the algorrobo blanco (a species of mesquite tree), which gives chifle a special aroma and taste. Depending on the type of plantain (ripe or green) the flavor can be sweet or savory. Sometimes it is served with cancha serrana (pan-roasted maize) or shredded cecina (pork jerky).

At present, the Asociación de Productores de Chifles Piuranos (APROCHIP, English: Piura Chifle Producers Association) has initiated the process to declare chifle as a producto de bandera nacional (English: flagship product) of Peru. APROCHIP of Piura is an agglomeration of 14 local commercial chifle producers.

An incision is made in the peel the full length of the plantain, and the peel is removed by hand. The plantains are immediately placed in salt water. Then the plantain is cut into thin slices, either across (round slices, like chips), or lengthwise (strips). The plantain slices are cooked in hot oil until golden and crispy. Then they are seasoned with salt.

A more crispy variety of chifle is prepared and packaged in factories. This includes sweet, savory, and spicy varieties. The commercial production and export of chifle was a product of the fact that South American travelers were interested in the uses of plantains. Early 19th-century travelers on ships entering and leaving the port of Guayaquil were served chifle (instead of bread) with meals, including breakfast, and discovered its use as a snack food.

According to Peruvian historians, the term "chifle" most likely comes from the Arabic "chofre", which in Medieval Spain was used to refer to the blade of the sword, lending the name to the snack food of fried plantains sliced into circles with the blade of a sword. Another view is that "chifle" means horn (or antler) and the term was used because of the resemblance between the two. A third view suggests that the term originates from the whistling sound made while eating the snack.

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Wikipedia