Lilies

Magnolias

©2006 Clove Garden

• General and History
• Buying and Storing Bananas
• Varieties - "desert" bananas
• Plantain - cooking bananas
• Banana Flower
• Banana Leaf
• Other Musaceae
  • Dwarf Banana
  • Enset
  • Manilla Hemp

Banana were one of the earliest agricultural crops, starting about 10,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. Taken from there to Africa and from Africa to Central and South America, it is now an important crop throughout the tropical areas of the world. The name "banana" is African.

Bananas are the world's most popular fruit. Even in the U.S. where bananas are not grown the average person, in a year, eats 10 pounds more bananas than apples. Bananas are currently the 4th most important source of nutrition for the world's population, following only rice, wheat and corn.

Scientific naming of bananas is highly confusing because the scientists have been highly confused.

Bananas are generally sold slightly unripe, which is fine because they are more durable that way and ripen well at room temperature. Avoid bruised fruit and bananas that are all green - they may not ripen well. Green plantains for cooking are the exception.

Do not refrigerate or expose to extreme temperatures or they will not ripen properly. When ripe, they can be refrigerated for a couple days to prevent them from becoming mushy. The skins turn brown when refrigerated but this does not affect the flesh.

Store bananas away from other fruits unless you want those fruit to ripen more quickly. Bananas exude a lot of ethylene gas which causes fruit to ripen.

Wild Bananas - [Musa paradisiaca]
Wild bananas are not sterile like commercial bananas so are filled with hard seeds about 1/4 inch diameter. These are now uncommon even in their native Southeast Asia, but are of extreme importance to banana breeders who are developing a successor to the Cavendish, against the inevitable day when it will succumb to disease.   Photo by Warut Roonguthai distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v3.0 Unported.

Commercial Bananas - [Musa paradisiaca sapientum]

Baby Banana - See Nino Banana

Blue Java - [Blue Java Ice Cream]
A banana with a blue-green peel covering a sweet creamy flesh. I have yet to see any of them around here.

Burro
This banana is now fairly available in Southern California particularly in ethnic groceries. It's short, rather squarish in cross section and more flavorful than the Cavendish. They are noted for a hint of lemon in the flavor.

Cavendish
This is your supermarket banana, grown on huge plantations of genetically identical plants to support a $4 billion export market. It is not the best tasting banana but holds its dominant position by convenience of storage and shipping. It is ripe when it shows a few small black spots on the peel. These bananas run between 7 and 8 inches long, (not counting the stem), 1-5/8 inches across and typically weigh between 6-1/2 and 7-1/2 ounces A 6-7/8 ounce banana was 4-7/8 ounces after peeling for a yield of 70%. Smaller bananas yield less.

The Cavendish is propagated by root suckers. It's a sterile seedless banana producing neither pollen nor seed, Every plant is an offshoot of one single original plant. This lack of diversity places the crop at great risk of disease and there's no way to breed disease resistance.

Currently the black sigatoka fungus is a major problem and airborne spraying is the only defense, accounting for a full 20% of the cost of growing bananas. A soil bacteria called Tropical Race 4 also now threatens the Cavendish just as a previous variety wiped out its commercial predecessor, Gros Michel. Prepare at least for higher prices and the possible disappearance of the familiar seedless dessert banana.

Gros Michel   -   [Big Mike]
The original banana imported to the U.S. and the original product of the United Fruit Company (originally the Boston Fruit Company - now Chiquita Brands). It was wiped out as a commercial product in the early 1950s by disease, forcing United Fruit to replant in Cavindish, a less flavorful and more difficult to ship variety.

Manzano   -   [Apple Banana]
These small bananas are now grown in many areas and are easily available in Southern California markets catering to Latino populations. They should be eaten when they show a fair number of black spots but before they become predominantly black. They have a faint apple or strawberry flavor but mostly taste like bananas.

Nino - [PLU 4234]
Miniature bananas now becoming common in Southern California markets. The photo specimens came from Ecuador and were 4 inches long and weighed 1.65 ounces each in bunches of 6. Favored by restaurants for fancy deserts they're pleasantly sweet and are ripe when they just start to get a few black specks.

Popoulou
A Polynesian cooking banana, short and blunt, resembling a Mediterranean squash. Subst: Plantain.

Red Banana
These short bananas are now very popular with supermarkets in upscale areas because their exotic appearance allows the market to charge high prices. They tastes pretty much like bananas, but sweeter than the Cavendish. They should be eaten when the first black spots appear.

Yangambi Km5
A flavorful disease resistant African variety from the Congo which may become a popular dessert banana if disease destroys the familiar Cavendish.

Plantain - [Cooking Banana; Dodo (West Africa); Musa paradisiaca]

This is the main banana in most of the world. It is starchier than the "desert" bananas like Cavendish and less sweet. Plantains are generally cooked while still green or somewhat green. They are still quite firm when solid yellow and can still be fried in that state. Some recipes call for them ripe, when they will be solid black and finally have softened. The flesh tends to be a little orange in color. The average plantain is about 12 inches long and weighs about 9-3/4 ounces.   Details and Cooking.

Plantain Shoots are eaten particularly in southern India (Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala). When the bunch of bananas is harvested, the plant is cut down and layers peeled off to get to the tender central stalk. This is chopped and prepared in salads and curries. The outer layers are used for binding string and for weaving mats. Young immature shoots are sometimes cooked and eaten in Ethiopia.

Philippine Plantain [Saba] is much smaller and rather boxy in shape. The photo specimens were between 6 and 6-1/2 inches long (not counting stem) and weighed about 6-1/4 ounces. A 6-1/4 ounce specimen yielded 3 ounces peeled (48%). In the yellow state shown they were rather firm, starchy and not particularly sweet. This plantain is used widely for sweets and savories.   Details and Cooking.

Plantain Roots:   Root corms are sometimes eaten in Ethiopia but not so commonly as those of the related Enset. They are soft and starchy just before the flowering stage.

Leaves & Blossoms are used the same as banana leaves and blossoms.

Banana Blossom - [banana heart; banana bell (Australia); Dok kluai (Thai); Shang chao fua (China)]

This pointy heart shape item is the male inflorescence of the banana or plantain plant. It forms a point at the end of the flowering stem and consists of red leaf like bracts covering rows of male flowers. The bracts curl up one by one, each exposing a row of flowers (not "baby bananas" as so many descriptions say). Above the "blossom" are a large number of female flowers that will mature into bananas Commercial bananas are sterile, so the male inflorescence is not needed for pollination

The photo specimens were 1 pound 2 ounces, 3-3/8 inches diameter and 8-3/4 inches long, about medium size. They were imported from Mexico.   Details and Cooking.

Banana Leaf / Plantain Leaf
Banana leaf is used in many tropical areas of the world in place of plates, particularly at banquets and other large events and in street food stalls and restaurants. Plantain leaves are very similar but a little tougher. Leaves are also an important food wrapper particularly to hold and protect food during steaming and for making rice cakes, which may be cylindrical or pyramid shaped.

The photo shows about 1/4 of a banana leaf (split down the spine and then cut in half crosswise) which is the way they are normally sold around here, fresh or frozen. This 1/4 leaf was 3 feet long and nearly a foot across at the widest point.   Details and Cooking.

Dwarf Banana [Musa acuminata]
A low growing banana plant grown particularly in the West Indies for edible fruit. Photo by Raul654 distributed under GNU Free Documentation License v1.2

Enset - [Ensete; False Banana, Ensete ventricosum]

Enset is planted widely in Ethiopia and noteworthy as a durable, long lived crop providing a hedge against famine. The tiny banana-like fruits are not edible, but the starchy root corm is. A tree takes four to five years to mature, at which time the root can weigh around 80 pounds. There are related ensets in India, Yunan, China and Thailand but they are not so important for food as in Ethiopia. See Note-B1.   Photo by H.Zell distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v3.0 Unported.

Manilla Hemp [Abacá; Musa textilis]

This plant is grown for its tough fibers. It is related to the banana and completely unrelated to the hemp Cannabis sativa from which marijuana is derived. Manilla Hemp has been primarily used to manufacture rope and paper (from which we get the term "manilla envelope").   Photo distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v3.0 Unported.

• B1 - Enset - AAAS