By request-taste impressions of local vs. imported Williams
 

PR-Giants suggested a taste of store bought, imported Williams vs. a farm fresh locally grown one. Well this isn't exactly that, but close.

I bought these both at my nearest grocery store. The one on the left is an imported Dole organic, and on the right is one locally grown from this company- Hamakua Springs Country Farms They are picked green. The only imported ones at my store were these organic ones.



As I've stated before, I'm not a big fan of cavendish types, though I do still grow some. I think they work well in smoothies.

I tried to taste them both at the same stage of ripeness, though the Dole was maybe 1 day more ripe. I was going to try and do a blind tasting, but the local one was so much bigger than the other, it would have been obvious unless I cut them up into same sized chunks. So I just ate them and tried to be unbiased.

I found the imported one pretty bad. Very bland, with an unpleasant texture. I haven't had a banana this bad in a while, except perhaps some local Iholenas that were mealy. The fruit itself was much smaller, more angular, I assume due to being harvested very early. The local Williams was much better, even better than ones I've grown myself. These are grown in a different part of the island, where they actually have soil, so maybe that makes a difference. It was sweeter and had a better texture. Still not my favorite, but I wouldn't call it bad tasting at all. I really didn't expect to taste much difference, so I found it pretty interesting!

Re: By request-taste impressions of local vs. imported Williams
 

Thanks for the taste report.

I think Cavendish bananas are horrible once they get any brown at all on the skin. They have like a 24-36 hour window where they're heavenly to my taste buds (when the last of the green is disappearing from them up till they turn totally yellow); any earlier and they have a nasty 'green' taste to them, any later and they get soft/mealy and oversweet. One day often makes the difference between tasting great and tasting unpleasant.

For my tastes, the locally grown one is right on the edge of going bad, while the imported one is way past being edible for eating out-of-hand.

Re: By request-taste impressions of local vs. imported Williams
 

Thanks Rob for the taste test! Dole organic bananas can be from awesome to totally bland,usually depending on the season and batch. The ones you found were bruised and somewhat overripe/fungus affected,they are usually brought in green and taste great then if the batch is good and till they get all yellow. Local produce always has more chances to taste better than imported fruits though!

GreenFin,i think our tastes are alike! I only like Cavendish at the ripeness you described and they do are awesome then! I can take more green and i am fine with the latex taste,i like it,but once the texture starts getting compromised(i.e. too soft,coinciding with the first brown spots usually),they are unpleasant to me. Not many people agree with my ripeness preference though,so i was surprised to read you like them this way!

Re: By request-taste impressions of local vs. imported Williams
 

Rob, thanks for the taste report.

I prefer them firm and slightly green.

The day after the skin peels off freely is perfect for me.

The local banana looks beautiful.

Re: By request-taste impressions of local vs. imported Williams
 

The Williams Hybrids I harvested were far superior to the grocery store cavendishes. Mine were much better tasting, larger in size and double the weight.

My wife hates cavendishes but ate a ton of the Williams. They were also delicious with smoothies.

Re: By request-taste impressions of local vs. imported Williams
 

I prefer them a little more green too, but this was the best I could do in finding 2 in the store pretty close in ripeness. The organic one looks a lot more beat up and ripe than it actually was.