Want Them All

They taste very good, but most are very small. The red fleshed one is quite tasty, according to my wife, she beat me to it.

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sunfish

Most likely .I believe if you hand pollinate you will get larger fruit .Better pollination = larger fruit

Want Them All

Hmm, I didn't know that better pollination (by hand) would yield larger fruits. Couple years ago, I was so excited to see the 1st flowers, and did the night pollination thing religiously. This time, there were so many flowers, I just said what the heck, let nature take its course. I'm not gonna pollinate every single one of these flowers, there were many more that didn't set fruits. Oh well, they tasted good, big or small.



BTW Tony, how does Dwarf Orinoco taste compared to Misi Luki and Blue Java? Sweeter? How's the consistency? My D.O. seems to take forever to ripen. It's interesting to see the triangular shape of these bananas, viewed from the ends. I recently harvested Misi Luki and Blue Java, excellent, and of course much better than the bland bananas in supermarkets.

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sunfish

I've never tasted blue java or ML. Did the Blue Java come from me or HomeDepot,Lowe's.If it did it is probably Namwah and they are good.Very sweet banana

Want Them All

The Blue Java came from a relative of mine, she probably got it at Home Depot. So is Blue Java the same as Namwah? Or is it just mislabelling by the store? I got some Dwarf Namwah from you.

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sunfish

mislabelling by the store

sunfish

venturabananas

You didn't ask me, but since Tony says he's killed his taste buds by smoking ;-), I'll give you my impression:

Get rid of Dwarf Orinoco. The flavor is OK, the texture is poor, and they take a long time to ripen, as you mentioned.

As Tony mentioned, your Blue Java is probably tall Namwah, and your Misi Luki is also tall Namwah, so they should taste the same. They are very good, very sweet with a nice texture. Best when very ripe if eaten as a desert banana. They are also excellent cooked and they can be a little less ripe if you are going to cook them. I've just sauteed them in butter (which makes everything taste good ), but the cooking really brings out the flavor.

The real Blue Java, which I finally got to taste is good. Closer to a store bought Cavendish in flavor than the Namwahs are, but better than Cavendish. Nice smooth texture. Tough plant that seems to do well even when neglected (based on the ones I've seen at Quail Gardens).

Replace your Dwarf Orinoco with a Dwarf Brazilian or Rajapuri if you want a relatively short plant that is tough and makes really tasty bananas.

If you want a super tasty, sweet-tart banana and you have a spot for a taller plant that doesn't handle cool weather quite as well, get something in the Mysore subgroup, e.g., Pisang Klotek, Pisang Ceylon, or Mysore. Those are the tastiest bananas I've had.

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Want Them All

Thanks Ventura,

I also have Dwarf Brazilian, Mysore, Rajapuri. So the chance is high that my "blue java" is a namwah. Can I tell by the appearance of the fruits if they're blue java?

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sunfish

[quote=venturabananas;204515]You didn't ask me, but since Tony says he's killed his taste buds by smoking ;-), I'll give you my impression:



My taste buds work fine I'm just not a picky eater.

venturabananas

Well, you've got some good ones!

Yes, aside from very rare exceptions, Blue Java fruits are really quite blue when they are young. The fake (Namwah) Blue Java fruits are more of a frosty light green. Do you have any photos?

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Want Them All

Are these fakers? Off topic: at this current time 2:08 PM, sunfish's San Diego temp is 106, Bakersfield is ONLY 99. Haha, what's going on?

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sunfish

106.1F Nice

venturabananas

They are fakes. It is the plant being widely sold in the US as "Ice Cream" but which is actually a Pisang Awak ("tall Namwah") cultivar, not the real Ice Cream / Blue Java. The color of the fruit, their shape (pointy-nosed), the retained pistil ("matchstick") at the end of the fruit, all point to Pisang Awak.

They look great and I'm sure will be delicious. Based on my very limited sample size, you will probably like them more than you would the real Ice Cream banana. Enjoy them.

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Want Them All

Oh, I liked them a lot, from another bunch a couple weeks ago.

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venturabananas

Excellent.

Where in central CA do you live? The "find me on the map" thing puts you in Wyoming. My mom just bought a place in San Jose and I'm wondering if your success with "Ice Cream" implies that this variety would do well in her climate.

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Want Them All

I'm in Bakersfield. San Jose can be pretty cold too, but probably not as cold as Bakersfield in the winter. San Jose can also get real hot, but doesn't stay hot as long.

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venturabananas

Thanks for the info. You inspired me to look at average monthly highs and lows and San Jose, CA and my home town, Ventura, actually have surprisingly similar weather, despite the hundreds of miles difference in latitude.

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sunfish

Should you allow only one bunch to grow on a double mahoi so you will have bigger fruit ?