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Old 05-23-2017, 03:58 PM   #1 (permalink)
meizzwang
 
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Default American Goldfinger FHIA 1 taste report with pics

It took 10 long months from the day the first flower opened until the day we had our first taste of American Goldfinger (FHIA-1) and it was worth the wait! The plants were grown outdoors in Northern California, and this first bunch flowered July 17, 2016 and was harvested May 18, 2017. This was what the bunch looked like when harvested:


Notice some fingers are completely yellow:


Here's a nice hand a few days after harvesting. Notice there's still some green on the "stems": at this stage, the bananas aren't very sweet but they aren't super astringent like Manzano:


When you start seeing brown spots and the color of the peel becomes darker yellow, that's when you want to eat them. This is still a day or two away from the peak, but you can see some spots forming:


Great snack sized fruit, but that's very environmental. I've heard these can get as big as a regular cavendish when grown in the tropics:


Unfortunately, I didn't photograph the outside of the banana at its peak, but here's what it looks like when opened up, it was a bit of a surprise (and quite pretty!):


and sliced in half:


Before being exposed to the cold, wet winter: the plants are just absolutely beautiful and create a tropical feel to the garden:



Here's what the plants looked like after taking a rough, cold winter. Despite all the leaves that were burned, the flavor wasn't affected negatively:





TASTE REPORT
TEXTURE- creamy (multiple people came to this conclusion) and my co-worker says dense, but I personally think it's slightly less dense than a cavendish, but not by much. Very delightful and enjoyable.

FIRMNESS – A little more firm than a grocery store Cavendish at peak maturity.

SWEETNESS- Sweeter than a cavendish at peak maturity.

TARTNESS- A little tart when there is some green at the tip, but then becomes milder after becoming fully yellow (this was copied and pasted from Servatusprime's report and it is spot on!)

RIPENESS- 1-3 days after the finger has turned yellow (depends on the environment they're ripening under) seems to be when you get peak ripeness. Texture, sugar content, and background subacid flavor is at its perfect balance. Should be a few brown spots on the peel. Slightly bruised fruit seem to ripen quicker. I suspect ripening them "on the vine" will give you better, more complex flavors compared to harvesting them green, but on the other hand, you get a lot of bananas all ripe near the same time.

PEEL: very easy to peel, but quite thin. The brown lines on the inside of the peel are quite attractive and different looking! There are brownish "strings" that attach to the "meat," but it's not noticable when being eaten (they're very soft and not fibrous whatsoever). The "neck" or "stem" of the finger is very fragile/thin and seems to get damaged easily/crack open when the bananas turn yellow. You can't break off a finger from the hand at this point without cracking open the banana.

FLAVOR- as mentioned above, peak flavor is at about 1-3 days after the finger has turned solid yellow. You should see a few dark spots on it, and it should be slightly darker yellow. At this stage, it's sweeter than a cavendish, and has a wonderful, tangy background flavor. I can see how some can describe that aspect as being "berry-like." To me, these bananas are slightly less filling than a cavendish, and you can eat a whole lot of them, but my perspective might be skewed since the fingers were small. It has an absolutely wonderful floral aftertaste according to my wife, who is very picky about fruit and is raving about this variety. I suspect environment plays a huge role on flavor: harvesting at the right time, watering only when it's warm, using lots of organic fertilizers really brings out the flavor. I could see this variety grown in poor soil with synthetic fertilizers having less depth of flavor, much like some commercially produced cavendish bananas.

RATING (out of 10): 9/10 Outside of the amazing flavor, this factors in productivity of the plant in marginal conditions and cold tolerance of the fruit. The bunch withstood several days of frost without any issues, but it has to bloom at the right time when grown in marginal climates (ie. I lost several bunches that bloomed in November and December, but everything that bloomed during the summer survived the cold). If you time the flowering right and get them to bloom in April, I suspect these can be finished in about 6 months here in Northern California, provided normal weather. Only downside is how fragile the peels are once these bananas are fully ripe (refer to the "Peel" description above). Others might balk at the fact that this banana doesn't have its peak flavor right when it turns yellow, but hey, avocados are loved by perhaps billions of people, and similarly, they're only great at a precise stage of ripeness which takes some experience to figure out....

For people in cold climates, I recommend the "6 cane per Mat" approach: you'll end up with smaller bunches, but this increases the chance that you'll have a few bunches that bloom at the right time of year to reach maturity.

Opinion on Commercial Production:
Others report this banana isn't popular among the general public and is therefore not commercially produced, but after tasting how much better these are compared to anything I've ever bought at the store, I don't think that's the real reason. When you eat this banana before peak maturity, it doesn't taste all that great, but when eaten at the right stage, the difference in flavor is night versus day.

In addition, it appears this probably wouldn't be good for large scale commercial production because of how fragile the peel is and how hard it would be to ship. However, for the hobby grower, niche market, or even local farmer's market, this is an excellent variety and highly recommended. It's the most productive variety I have so far, with 7 bunches total produced in less than a year! Granted, they didn't all make it, but you get the point: the plant wants to fruit unlike many other varieties that just sulk in my mediocre climate for bananas. It is absolutely staying in the garden for as long as I have a garden!

Last edited by meizzwang : 05-23-2017 at 04:45 PM.
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