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View Full Version : "Praying hands" fruiting--these any good eatin'?


Oblofusc
09-29-2008, 11:38 PM
So my "Ladyfinger" (bought and paid for last year as a "Ladyfinger" from Central Florida Farms--you need to Google that name before ordering, trust me on this) FINALLY blooms and fruits earlier this month, and lo and behold it ain't no Ladyfinger but a "praying hands" variety that they also sell, as it has the unmistakable "fused fruit" hands like the pics on their site shows.

Anyone have one of these, and are they good tasting?

Another one of my plants has "inflouresced" as they say, but this is on an unknown variety I got from an acquaintance. The banans fruits look "normal" to me so far, small, and not "fused" like the other. I guess I won't know squat until I eat one. Probably a friggin' plantain, or one crammed full of seeds.

And the "Misi Luki" I bought two years ago from the local nursery also just poked up a flag leaf, so we'll see what happens there. Big mystery as far as I'm concerned. Why, you ask? Because the plant looks very different from the "Misi Luki" I bought from Central Florida Farms.

I feel like a father whose wife just gave birth to triplets--one dark with tight black curly hair, one a redhead with freckles, and one with slanted eyes and straight black hair. Meanwhile I have blond hair & blue eyes. "Hey, wait a minute . . . ."

Excuse me while I go projectile vomit for a while.

JCDerrick
09-30-2008, 10:58 AM
LOL, I guess it's safe to say you never can be completely sure what you have until it blooms.

I think the Praying Hands fruit is pretty good, or so I've heard. Some folks call it the "Ripping Banana" I believe since you have to rip the fruit apart.

And I think it was Chong, last week or so, said that the Saba and Praying Hands are actually known as the same plant in the Philippines. See this post (http://www.bananas.org/f2/saba-not-saba-5167.html#post43765).

chong
09-30-2008, 11:58 AM
The pulp of the fruit of the Praying Hands tastes and looks exactly like the Saba. They are seedless. As such, it is a lot sweeter than any plantain that I've ever tasted. It has a long shelf life, as well. The fingers are easier to separate when they are very ripe, at which time they can be eaten out of hand. Although, I would still cook them.

Check out the recipes on Jarred's (Mediahound) Saba harvest thread. Or, maybe he had a separate Saba Recipes thread.

pitangadiego
09-30-2008, 01:46 PM
Definitely good eating.