Mama Kat Thursday: Trying a New Banana

The Mama Kat prompt I've chosen today is, "Something new I learned in April."

On a recent grocery trip, I saw a unique banana called Manzanos and decided to buy the little bunch to give them a try.

It's a small banana breed, each banana thick and about 5 inches in length.

You see, I've developed an interest in trying other kinds of bananas. 

The bananas on the American grocery shelves now, called Cavendish, is not the banana our grandparents or great grandparents grew up eating and isn't even the best tasting banana!

So there's better tasting bananas out there? 

That's what piqued my interest.

The Cavendish banana in our groceries now didn't become popular until the late 1950's. Our grandparents and great grands enjoyed buying and eating a much better tasting, larger banana called Gros Michel or "Big Mike" for short.

Big Mike's were on American fruit stands from the 1870's to the late 1950's, but the mass plantations of Big Mike trees were wiped out by a banana tree fungus, called Panama Disease.

So the commercial banana industry switched over to Cavendish bananas.
Bred originally by an Englishman in the 1800's, Cavendish trees proved resistant to the fungus plus, like the Big Mike's, they shipped really well and were inexpensive for consumers.

Unfortunately, the Panama Disease has since evolved and now threatens the commercial Cavendish tree plantations and there is at no alternative replacement. Various breeding efforts are being experimented with to save the breed in order to keep a cheap banana on the shelves and preserve the industry.

The thing is, even if the Cavendish disappeared off the shelves---it's not the only banana in the world! We'd still have bananas. There about about a 1000 different kinds.

Everyone would just have to get used to paying more per pound to have them. 

Which brings me back to these Manzono Bananas---the new thing I've learned in April, after buying them, is different kinds of bananas ripen at different speeds. 

Cavendish actually ripen pretty fast, a matter of days. These Manzano's might look yellow, which by Cavendish standards appears ripe, but they aren't. Yellow color on Manzano's means they're green.  In fact, Marzano's are not ripe until the skins turn very brown with spots--which might take up to 3 weeks!

Apparently, once they are ripe, they have a tropical pineapple flavor. 
I tried one right away, because, they looked ripe to me and I like my Cavendish's slightly green---but I took one bite and spat it out. Definitely not ripe. Then I looked them up to discover they take two to three weeks to ripen and should not be eaten until their skins are very brown and spotted.
Once ripe, they are supposed to be a delight to the palette with a flavor akin to tropical pineapple and can be eaten, baked, whatever just like any banana.

So, I'll have to let you know what the taste experience is like in a couple weeks!

Results: It felt it was still hard to tell when these were ripe. I waited until they were heavily spotted and darkening, though still yellow. The thing is---I don't like eating really ripe bananas. It's a texture thing. I don't like the mushiness in my mouth. I prefer slightly green to just beginning to turn ripe bananas. I put the Manzano's in the fridge when I determined they were ripe and did eat two plain. The first was still slightly firm, but the second was a little too ripe. I used the remaining 4 in banana bread. The Manzano's did taste more tropical then regular Cavendish with a shade of pineapple/apple to their taste that still was basically---banana. They were worth trying, though and the bread was good. 

Have you tried any other kind of bananas?

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If you'd be interested in exploring banana varieties, there is a farm in South Florida, called Miami Fruit, where you can order tropical fruit, including many types of bananas, online. They offer a sampler variety box of in-season bananas as well specific type of bananas. A small sampler box of exotic bananas is $57 plus shipping---might be a neat project to learn about different kinds of bananas for a summer discovery project for the kids!

(I'm not affiliated with Miami Fruit in any way.)

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