bananaT
08-27-2012, 01:33 AM
My Orinoco fruit finally ripened to perfection. Here's just some info, and notes on the flavor for anybody that may be interested in knowing.
The flag leaf appeared in the middle of may.
The stalk was around 9 feet tall.
The bell pushed out around may 21st, with the first female buds popping out a couple days latter.
I harvested the bunches on August 20Th. I did harvest them before they completely ripened on the stalk, but they were yellowing.
So it still works out to around three months, from flag leaf to harvest.
The mother plant was put in the ground as a sucker on April 27 2011.
I don't know if it has any bearing on the time to maturity, I believe it did, but during that year over a dozen suckers were removed from the growing corm.
All together it took around 15 months from sucker to ripe fruit for my Orinoco.
Now to the fruit!
In total there were 16 fruits in the 2 bunches. the weight was 10lbs and 4 oz.
While the fruits are supposedly very good cooked green, I prefer ripe bananas.
It took 6 days at room temp for the bananas to turn almost completely brown.
While they were brown outside, the inside was just perfect.
The peel is much thinner than I would have guessed, because it is very tough and fibrous, it protected the flesh nicely.
The color of the flesh was a nice pal yellow, streaked with dark yellow lines, that are visible in the picture.
It was near the firmness of a store banana that is still splotched with green.
So it holds a nice firmness, it doesn't get mushy when fully ripe.
The moisture content was a little lower too. Not much, but it lends itself to the fruit being more firm and holding up while ripe.
The sugar content was perfect in my opinion. Not over sweet with no flavor, like store bananas.
The flavor was definitely more than your store banana. It had no acidity, but I could pick up hints of grape. And it did have your classic banana taste notes as well.
Over all it was a very nice tasting banana. The flavors were there, but light. The flesh was nice and firm. It would definitely hold up well for cooking or drying.
Out of 10, 10 being the best. I would give it a 7 1/2.
Very much worth growing if you ask me. Not just because of the fruit, but the plant is tolerant of frost, with the stalk surviving cold snaps down to 27 degrees in my experience.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50251&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50251&ppuser=11500)
When they were green, over a week ago.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50281&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50281&ppuser=11500)
A couple days ago, almost ripe.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50282&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50282&ppuser=11500)
Ripe!!
The flag leaf appeared in the middle of may.
The stalk was around 9 feet tall.
The bell pushed out around may 21st, with the first female buds popping out a couple days latter.
I harvested the bunches on August 20Th. I did harvest them before they completely ripened on the stalk, but they were yellowing.
So it still works out to around three months, from flag leaf to harvest.
The mother plant was put in the ground as a sucker on April 27 2011.
I don't know if it has any bearing on the time to maturity, I believe it did, but during that year over a dozen suckers were removed from the growing corm.
All together it took around 15 months from sucker to ripe fruit for my Orinoco.
Now to the fruit!
In total there were 16 fruits in the 2 bunches. the weight was 10lbs and 4 oz.
While the fruits are supposedly very good cooked green, I prefer ripe bananas.
It took 6 days at room temp for the bananas to turn almost completely brown.
While they were brown outside, the inside was just perfect.
The peel is much thinner than I would have guessed, because it is very tough and fibrous, it protected the flesh nicely.
The color of the flesh was a nice pal yellow, streaked with dark yellow lines, that are visible in the picture.
It was near the firmness of a store banana that is still splotched with green.
So it holds a nice firmness, it doesn't get mushy when fully ripe.
The moisture content was a little lower too. Not much, but it lends itself to the fruit being more firm and holding up while ripe.
The sugar content was perfect in my opinion. Not over sweet with no flavor, like store bananas.
The flavor was definitely more than your store banana. It had no acidity, but I could pick up hints of grape. And it did have your classic banana taste notes as well.
Over all it was a very nice tasting banana. The flavors were there, but light. The flesh was nice and firm. It would definitely hold up well for cooking or drying.
Out of 10, 10 being the best. I would give it a 7 1/2.
Very much worth growing if you ask me. Not just because of the fruit, but the plant is tolerant of frost, with the stalk surviving cold snaps down to 27 degrees in my experience.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50251&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50251&ppuser=11500)
When they were green, over a week ago.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50281&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50281&ppuser=11500)
A couple days ago, almost ripe.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50282&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50282&ppuser=11500)
Ripe!!