kthacker

I had loved bananas since I was a small child and when I was in high school I no longer liked the taste... I was in Hawaii and had a banana from a produce market and I was in love again. I later learned that what I did not like was the taste of the Cavendish banana, which 50 years later I still can not stand the taste of. I was of the era when the "Big Mike" was king and when the commercial producers switched to the Cavendish, is when I stopped eating bananas. I lived in Florida for 27 years and most of the bananas that home owners grow there are either Cavendish or lady fingers and a few Plantains. My home grown Cavendish were slightly better than the store bought ones, but still not what I wanted. I now live in Tennessee and can no longer grow my own, but I am looking for someplace to buy bananas (on line) that are something close to a "Big Mike" in taste.

GreenFin

RareBananas.com - Rare banana plants shipped live to your door. might have some available (they have a wide selection of both banana plants and banana fruits).

A lot of other members here prefer other types over Cavendish as well. I love grocery store (Cavendish) bananas--they're one of my favorite foods--so I'm anxious to try out some of the other recommended varieties like Gros Michel, Apple/Manzano, Mysore, Ice Cream, Dwarf Namwah, Dwarf Red, Raja Puri, Goldfinger, SH 3640, etc. If I find some I like even more than Cavendish, I might eat a dozen a day.


Edit: Here's a link to the current banana fruit selection at Rare Bananas. They don't have any Gros Michel right now, but they do have a number of other types that folks often recommend.

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caliboy1994

If you have a greenhouse, you might be able to get Gros Michel 'Cocos' to fruit. Same as Big Mike except the actual plant is shorter.

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palmtree

Im with you, I love banana plants, but I HATE the taste of grocery store bananas. Once you have tasted a better variety I dont see how you can go back to cavendish! I personally like Ice Cream (Java Blue) and Im hoping I can get mine to fruit next summer (hopefully it wont make a bloom this fall because then I wont be able to get bananas).
Lots of people get bananas to fruit in northern climates like TN so I think that you can have some of your own banana plants. And special grocery stores often have other varieties of bananas (In my experience the common cavendish is most common, then it's apple bananas, then the red bananas, then ice cream bananas). Dwarf Namwah might be one of the easiest to get to fruit in your area. It has to be dug up during the winter months though like most of the good tasting banana plants!

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Richard

For my tastes, the cultivars of Pisang Awak are great. The dwarf version is sold as "Dwarf Namwah" which has fat 5 inch fruits. The standard height varieties are sold as "Tall Namwah", "Misi Luki", and simply "Pisang Awak". It has fat 6 to 7 inch fruits. Go for it.

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amantedelenguaje

I hope you find another banana that you like. I wish I could find Gros Michel pups to plant, but I've had no luck as of yet.

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