View Full Version : Are Musa Basjoo leaves and flowers edible?
Tivona
07-17-2012, 07:40 PM
I just got a Musa Basjoo and considering location, soil and climate I expect it to do fairly well. I plan on placing it in full sun with lots of horse manure.
I read that the fruit is inedible. Any particular reason why?
Also can the leaves and flowers of Musa Basjoo be used in cooking? I know some banana leaves and flowers are used in cooking in some places. I figure in a few years this thing will be huge and just wondered if I could use parts in cooking even if the fruit isn't possible to use.
john_ny
07-17-2012, 07:55 PM
Fruit is full of seeds, which can be as large as peas. They will not hurt you, but can be rather unpleasant to eat. We have used the leaves, several times, to wrwap things, when putting them on the grill. I certainly don't think the flowers would be harmful.
Tivona
07-17-2012, 10:53 PM
Thanks. That's what I was needing to know.
JuniPerez
07-18-2012, 04:28 PM
I give lots of leaves away before the frost hits them... and perfect timing since it's approaching the holidays, which is time for making what we call "pasteles". We wrap them in basjoo leaves before cooking.
Tivona
07-18-2012, 11:27 PM
Thanks for the tip on harvesting before frost. I think that sounds like a great idea and I will definitely try the pasteles. I googled recipes and it looks fun. I am an adventurous cook and not a picky eater and love gardening so I it sounds like I am going to have some fun!
Any other varieties that are cold tolerant but might be better in fruit that I should keep an eye out for?
banana13
01-15-2013, 04:25 PM
Hi, does anyone know if the stems of these are edible like some other bananas?
Hammocked Banana
01-16-2013, 01:04 PM
Tivona, where do u live/what zone are u in? Orinoco and namwah are good varieties with decent hardiness, however they will still only survive outside in zone 8 or higher.
Banafan
02-25-2013, 05:47 AM
A very timely post for me as I was about to order 3x Basjoo this morning thinking they were quite hardy and produced eatable fruit ... I'm back to square one, narrowly missing my first mistake, thanks.
sandy0225
02-26-2013, 02:20 PM
I don't know why you couldn't eat the stems of the basjoo. You certainly can eat the leaves, and they are really just extensions of the stem. You can eat the flowers but mine has never bloomed.
So far, I haven't found a hardy and fruiting banana for our zone (5-6, depending on which chart you look at). I think the main problem would be that it would probably run out of time to finish the fruit before the stalk froze up and fell over, unless it bloomed in the spring. Which I haven't had an edible-type banana bloom in the spring. The edible ones always seem to bloom in the fall here, maybe they are triggered by shortening day length? Maybe some one knows the answer to that. If that is the case, it would be fun to play with some mature ones and a grow light and see what happens.
I have had many bordelons bloom towards spring, or in early summer, but they don't set any fruit.
banana13
02-26-2013, 05:09 PM
The edible ones always seem to bloom in the fall here, maybe they are triggered by shortening day length?
I don't think that bananas are triggered by day length. I am not an expert on this, but I'm pretty sure that fruiting time has more to do with the size and number of leaves on the plant rather than the day length.
phmaddnes
06-24-2019, 01:05 PM
Found this while searching today.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/cooking-with-banana-leaf-3217239
Thought it might interest you.
sirdoofus
10-06-2019, 12:43 PM
I don't know why you couldn't eat the stems of the basjoo. You certainly can eat the leaves, and they are really just extensions of the stem. You can eat the flowers but mine has never bloomed.
So far, I haven't found a hardy and fruiting banana for our zone (5-6, depending on which chart you look at). I think the main problem would be that it would probably run out of time to finish the fruit before the stalk froze up and fell over, unless it bloomed in the spring. Which I haven't had an edible-type banana bloom in the spring. The edible ones always seem to bloom in the fall here, maybe they are triggered by shortening day length? Maybe some one knows the answer to that. If that is the case, it would be fun to play with some mature ones and a grow light and see what happens.
I have had many bordelons bloom towards spring, or in early summer, but they don't set any fruit.
Hey Sandy - Just curious, do you move your bordelons inside during winter or do you leave them outside and protect the mat?
pouncingfox
10-31-2019, 06:18 AM
I was under the impression that basjoo were inedible as well, but scrolling thru Netflix this morning, there is a series called Flavorful Origins. In season 2, episode 7, "Hardy Banana" they state in the title that basjoo is the variety they are cooking and eating.
cincinnana
10-31-2019, 05:30 PM
Eat to your hearts content.....:08:
pjkfarm
11-01-2019, 07:49 PM
Helen's Hybrid is close to basjoo supposedly in hardiness and has an edible fruit (but like seeded watermelon, need to get rid of seeds :-)
SoCal2warm
11-22-2019, 04:26 AM
Helen's Hybrid is close to basjoo supposedly in hardiness
It's a hardy banana but I would not say it is "close" to basjoo in hardiness.
"hardy" is a relative term, of course
SoCal2warm
11-22-2019, 04:29 AM
I don't see why basjoo should be any different than any other banana when it comes to edibility, so long as we are not talking about the fruits.
Longwoods Tropicals
11-26-2019, 08:06 AM
I found out a few weeks back that horses love musa basjoo plants. This year they did all the cutting back for me, a little more than usual...LOL. It'll be 12 inches of overwintered p-stem as opposed to the usual 36+.
https://twitter.com/HaroldCarr10/status/1187755916260757504
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