Organic banana question!
 

My wife recently bought bananas at Aldi supermarket , upon eating these bananas I realize they have to be a different variety then your everyday cavendish that you get everywhere. They are much larger with a sweeter but milder tast then I'm used to. Even the peel looks different as they ripen. I'm wondering if this is just me or are there other varieties out there I don't know about?

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Can you post some photos of the fruit? There are other bananas for sale sometimes in the US, but they are almost always smaller than typical Cavendish, and taste rather different. It could be a different cultivar than other Cavendish producers you are used to, but it would still be a Cavendish. Cavendish is really a big group of cultivars, and there are lots of different cultivars that are grown and all referred to simply as Cavendish.

It could also have just been handled differently, cold storage can really mess with the flavor sometimes.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

By any chance was there a sticker on the peel? If so, it might help identify what your wife purchased and you consumed.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Getting pictures on here with my phone seems to be a difficult operation ! Only thing it has was a sticky tape all the way around them and it said organically grown. They are really big around and one of the best bananas I have ever tasted out of a store. Also they are very straight and are a darker yellow .

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Well, you could always e-mail Aldi and ask what they sold to you. They may or may not know but it's worth a shot.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Hey, that's worth a try. These are a really good banana.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

If they do not have the name of the banana, maybe they will give the name of their supplier. Then send the supplier an e-mail and ask what that great tasting banana is.

I always find it interesting how others feel about tasting new bananas. I have never tasted anything other than the normal store bought. I hope you find out what banana excited your tast buds.
:woohoonaner:

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Friend of mine just bought organic and the looked like regular bananas but were much smaller.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

I know what you mean, most of them are usually smaller but these are really fat and a lot straighter then normal bananas. I will begin my investigation tomorrow and I will keep you all in the loop on what I find out.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Thanks for the mission. I was going by Aldi anyway (lots of great deals there, lately into their parmesan for $4 a half pound).

As Jamie said, you can see the diff in the peel color. The organics are yellower, and the green parts greener. They seem to have a longer shelf life. Flavor (I had not noticed a diff before, but this time paid attention and did) on the organics has a little of the normal mush taste gone and in its place a little flavor like our Hawaiian "apple" bananas (Brazilian to everybody else). Just a hint. But I think it is the same variety. Size-wise, both come in all sizes. I tend toward the smaller ones as in this pic. Price-wise, normal is usually 44 cents, today 29. Organic 69.

I got some labels for the curious, in my gallery. Some are from Ecuador, some from Dominican Republic.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

I'm not sure if the barcode is the same as a PLU which is generally found on the sticker and I can't read your pictures but you could try looking it up here: PLU-codes

I'm thinking you purchased some very carefully grown Cavendish but who knows?

Re: Organic banana question!
 

Maybe just look different because they are not treated with a bunch of crud.

Re: Organic banana question!
 

These are the bananas Jamie P is talking about. Makes me hungry looking at them.
:woohoonaner:

Re: Organic banana question!
 

I found this:

https://community.plu.edu/~bananas/why-you/home.html

Re: Organic banana question!
 

They are definitely Cavendish but I doubt you will be able to get any more detailed information than that, but you can always try. The companies normally keep their exact clonal lines closely guarded secrets, and there are lots of different ones. If you look carefully at bananas in the supermarket from different companies and/or sources, there are minor variations because there are actually different cultivars, but they are all Cavendish still. Things like PLU codes would not reflect the exact clone being grown.

As an example, this tissue culture plant vendor offers 5 different Cavendish lines, 4 of which are special clonal selections with copyright registrations: Cultesa | Plataneras

I once contacted a few of the major companies to try to find out exactly what cultivar of Cavendish they were growing, but I could never get past "they're Cavendish".