Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?

I've been hearing both yes and no all over the net. Can anyone tell me froml personal experience? I just started to germinate some and I was curious.

Thanks

Matt

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

yes if u pick out all the seeds

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

i have tasted a little, but there is so many seeds that are like buckshot. it tastes fine, nothing impressive.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

They are edible in that you can eat them and they will not hurt you, but in the banana world, edible means that it is a seedless cultivar where as M. velutina is a seeded wild species. Personally I think they are fun to eat even with the seeds which are not as hard as most people tend to think they are (though some other banana species are indeed like rocks), but there are a lot of seeds.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Gabe, does growing conditions dictate seed toughness? my velutina are so hard i couldn't break it with my teeth.

Thanks,

:03:alex

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

I think while in the banana, the seeds are not as rock hard since they aren't dried.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

This brings up a question from me........Aren't all bananas actually edible? By edible I mean non-poisonous or won't kill or mame you if you eat it. In the banana world...the only reason for the edible/non-edible labels are seeds in fruit?

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

...and taste surely. If something tastes like crap, it's inedible

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

My M. dasycarpa (velutina) is about to bloom right now. If I get fruit, I'll try them and report back.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Taste is all a matter of preference, my question was whether any form of musa is actually poisonous....

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

No Musa are known to be poisonous, so yes they are all technically edible.

However, the difference between wild species and the cultivated varieties goes much deeper than just not having seeds, there is a complex synergy of things going on inside of edible cultivars that make them edible and separate them from wild species. The most important aspect of edible bananas is parthenocarpy caused by an autonomous auxin release in the fruit during development. This allows the fruit to grow without pollination, but in order to have a seedless fruit, some form of sterility must coincide with parthenocarpy. Not all parthenocarpic varieties are sterile, so many normally seedless bananas will form seeds with a source of pollen. The most successful and popular varieties however generally do not form seeds, which means that they are both parthenocarpic and have some level of sterility. The combination of parthenocarpy and sterility was selected by humans over thousands of years and the plants grown specifically for eating the fruit, so these varieties are called "edible" to distinguish them from wild species which have not had human intervention for fruit cultivation.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Thanks Gabe! That was very helpful. Hopefully, My little guys will bear fruit when they grow up. :woohoonaner:

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Wow! That's one of your first technically speaking posts I believe I understood! Anyways, The basic of what you are saying is that the nanners we have today were bred over thousands of years to have this genetic "defect" to be sterile and wild species could have that same chance over time once studied, influenced, and bred.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

It may taste horrible and have seeds but if your without food are you going to care? The one I tasted last year also never got as soft as a normal banana.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Musa dasycarpa (formerly velutina) normally gets in the 4' range. Mine is flowering right now and it didn't even get that tall! Another of the pseudostems in the clump is around 4' tall, however. Some may get a little taller.

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Hi!

The Musa velutina has been officially renamed Musa dasycarpa syn velutina. Depending on the actual variety, the p-stem height can range from 3ft to 6ft+(or more as one of the members told me).

Grown over here with favorable conditions year round, from germination to fruiting only took me 10 months. During this time, it was in a pot. My plant fruited at a p-stem height of about 3ft.

I hope my comments helps! :ha:

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?
 

I think other cold growing experts will step in soon and give more details as it is still early in the morning. Don't forget I live in the tropics! :ha:

Re: Is MUSA VELUTINA edible?