Serving Up {Bread}: Grandma's Banana Bread

When I set out to start blogging my many recipes, I really wanted to remember the history behind some of my recipes.  This is one such recipe.  This is my grandmother's recipe for banana bread.  I don't have any one specific memory associated with my grandmother and this bread, but something about knowing it was her recipe has made this a cherished possession of mine.  She passed away shortly after I married and as I began my married life, I wished that I had thought to get more of her recipes.  It's a sad thought to think that those are lost forever.  So here is an encouragement to call up a family member and ask them for a recipe for something that they make that you love.  It's a little piece of them that you will have forever.

Onto the recipe.  I really like anything banana - bread, muffins, cakes, cookies.  I have recipes for them all.  Of all the recipes I've made, this is the only one that I have ever come across that has you dissolve baking soda in hot water before adding it to the ingredients.  I failed chemistry (okay, I got a B) so I have no idea what that step does, but for as moist as this banana bread is, I have never dared to do it any way other than directed.  Let me know if you agree. 

GRANDMA'S BANANA BREAD     Pin It

(recipe from Grandma Wright)
printable version

1/3 cup shortening (I use butter, but the shortening was my grandma!)
1 cup sugar (I frequently reduce it by 1/3 cup with no noticeable difference)
1 egg
3 bananas, well ripened and mashed
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 1/3 cup boiling water

Cream butter and sugar together until well mixed.  Add egg and banana and continue to mix.  Add flour and salt and mix until well combined.  Add the soda dissolved in boiling water LAST.  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour - test it with a toothpick at 55 minutes.
Cool completely and store in the fridge.