Quote:
Originally Posted by PR-Giants
Mark have you ever tasted a "Dwarf Brazilian" Prata Ana and if so how did it compare to the "Brazilian" Prata?
I have several friends growing the Prata, Prata Ana, Pacovan and many of the other hybrids produced by the Brazilian banana breeding program Embrapa and it might be interesting to see how your taste comparison compares with theirs.
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Keith, I have tried them both, though I'll qualify that statement by saying that I wouldn't swear that all of the tall Pome varieties were really the "Brazilian" Prata clone. I've tried fruit from tall Pome clones from Hawaii (almost certainly "tall Brazilian", the Cook Islands (more likely the tall Pome "Lady Finger" from Australia), and some tall Pomes in my yard that were obtained misidentified under two different names. I grow Prata Ana (Dwarf Brazilian) from two sources, and they seem to be the same thing and are properly identified.
OK, with all that prologue, I don't discern any difference in taste or texture between the tall Pome clones that I've tried and Prata Ana. Given that climate and other growing conditions can affect the fruit characteristics, the best comparison is between Dwarf Brazilian and the tall Pomes in my yard. Those fruit are so similar to me that if I was blindfolded and fed each, I don't think I could tell them apart. Maybe someone with more refined tasting abilities could. But they aren't hard for me to distinguish from the FHIA varieties I've tried that have Prata Ana parentage; and of course, other subgroups.
You mentioned textural differences among some, and I am in complete agreement that the hybrids (e.g., FHIA-01 and FHIA-18) have a different texture than the Pome clones. At least in my yard, the hybrids are much softer.
I don't know how well my impressions of the fruit grown in my yard translate to fruit grown in more typical banana growing regions. Even within a single Pome cultivar (say Prata Ana), fruit grown in the tropics/subtropics that I've tried have been slightly softer and more "earthy" (maybe "vegetal") in flavor than those grown in Southern California.
Keith, I'd be interested to hear what differences in taste or texture you or your friends notice between the different Pome cultivars, and the hybrids. I've read good things about Pacovan, but I haven't been able to track it down in the hobby trade.