shannondicorse

On Trinidad the "cooking" bananas of choice are the Horn plantains.

Apart from the traditional plantains - which to me represent one fertilisation event followed by centuries of somatic mutation - there are small amounts, scattered of here and there, tetraploid plantain hybrids and what appears to be a secondary triploid plantain hybrid that have leaked into the island.

Some are definitely worth field testing. They lack the apical dominance of plantains; seem far less vulnerable to Cosmopolites and some nematodes; are more tolerant of Black 'Sigatoka'; and do not suffer from mat rise (they can ratoon for quite a few cycles).

There are a few ABB/"BBB types... mostly "Orinoco" like varieties; and Saba & Pelipita do exist but are extremely rare. So is Pisang awak. These types and AABs that bear angular fruit are all called "Moko" or "Moko Plantain". They are not appreciated and do not sell...mostly because they are traditionally scorned by the populace.

Red banana & Green Red are not appreciated - there is some sort of taboo about them being poisonous...

The cooking bananas par excellence here are immature Cavendish types; and Sucrier is eaten cooked, used just as the ripening process has begun.

All the meagre green immature Cavendish production is - to me derived from incidental or subsistence farmer surplus...

Gros Michel is hard to find on the markets - and is never cooked.

The local production of dessert bananas is sporadic and consists of varieties of Silk & Sucrier.

Mysore is scorned and ripe bunches are left to rot in the abandoned banana fields. Actually it makes a good cooking banana.

Trinidad imports quantities of packaged snack "plantain chips" from Ecuador and, I think, Costa Rica.

So there you have it.


shannon


shannon.di.corse@gmail.com