Davey

Grown here in Baton Rouge, humid zone 8b, near sub-tropics, for 20 yrs in my garden, and grown for many yrs as a pass-around plant around town. Thats hubby in the pic, for scale. He's 6'4". Most yrs produces a cluster of 18-20 something 6-8" fat, distinctly flat-sided, sweet, yellow, slow-to-ripen, and rather bland-tasting fruits. Definitely different than grocery store bananas which are usually longer, slimmer, sweeter, and more banana-flavored. We also use the thick leaves to steam fish on the grill; works great. Can get to 20' or more in some gardens. Our clump is slightly shorter. Some winters it goes to rotting mush and I have to prune most of the stalk back, but usually, our mild winters only kill the leaves & leave stalk intact. It can get to be an invasive pest in some gardens, via root "pups", if not corralled. The yrs I fertilize it more & remember to water thru dry period it has more and slightly larger fruit on the clusters, additional clusters, etc.. Anyhow......would like to get some different, tastier varieties growing in the garden, so, I would like to NOT end up with this one again. So I need to know what to call it. Locals just say, "It's a 'Cavendish', which is little help. Also would like to grow, if I could, some of the cooking bananas so common in Carribbean dishes. Also one I've heard about that sounds intriguing, called "Ice Cream". So any help with i.d. on this old garden standby is much appreciated! Miriam/ Rex Davey, Baton Rouge, LA

Davey

Put 2 photos of mystery banana in my gallery. They are the only ones, so far.

Banana Gallery - ID "Edible Banana" common in Baton Rouge (USDA Zone 8b) Passed to

Banana Gallery - ID "Edible Banana" common in Baton Rouge (USDA Zone 8b) Passed to

Tytaylor77

Sounds and looks like Orinoco. They are very common where you are and where I am. If they are overripe with lots of black I will eat them but they are on the bottom of my taste list. Also the blue Java ice cream. If you buy a TC plant you will get a Namwa. If you want a real blue Java from a member here is about the only option. Most people prefer Namwa over blue Java.

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150+ Varieties!!. See profile for list. Help me add more!

www.bananapups.com

sputinc7

If what you have is Orinoco, it is already a cooking banana. From other pics I have seen, it looks like an Orinoco.

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If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

Davey

Sputink7 and Tytaylor77

THANKS A MILLION! Yes, I googled around using key words including "Orinoco", and that looks & sounds exactly like our "edible banana"!

Interesting reading on the cv group some put it in---ABB----which is a different group than 'Cavendish', in AAB. So, it's primarily regarded as a cooking banana---so not surprised! Also, the leaves are very long, large, and thick, like those the wikipedia article said are common in "plantain"/ cooking varieties. We use them for steaming fish on the grill, and they hold up well, unlike the leaves of 2 other bananas we grow.

From now on, we'll cook with them, and will experiment with them at varying stages of ripeness. Here, we can usually leave them on the plant at least thru Thanksgiving without worrying about frost damage, and I have let them go all the way yellow on the plant in the past, thinking it would improve their flavor. It improved their texture, for sure.

We've been enjoying some Mexican and Carribbean dishes recently, which use fried plantain type cooking bananas readily available in area grocery stores. I've grown especially fond of a bean, cheese, and plantain taco on a flour tortilla with a tomatillo/cilantro/grilled poblano sauce.....can hardly wait to try my backyard Donkey Bananas in it!

Y'all are the best!

Now to look up this Namwa cv, and see what it's all about.

The Daveys