Post pictures of banana-sellers here
 

Here's an idea - take a picture of where you buy your bananas (the ones you're not growing, of course!)

I'll go first. This is a picture of the "banana sector" of the fresh-market where I shop. The whole schmoo is outdoors in the overflow parking lot of a football stadium, and it's about 2 square blocks of market. Produce is arranged by sectors, so that all banana sellers, for example, are in one general area, as are the fresh fish sellers, pineapple people, potatos and other tubers, etc. etc.

I apologize for image quality, it's a cel-phone camera photo. Nanners as far as the eye can see! :0517: This particular stall specializes in Oritos by the raceme, but also sells green and mature Platanos and occasionally has a raceme of Reds as well. Everything in the stall is $1 US.

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Great picture! I don't think my local supermarket would be nearly as interesting.

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Lorax, $1 buys a whole raceme???

That's a lot of bananas! :D

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Do they allow tasting of samples?

I know this is a commodity, but as a visitor, I might want a preview....

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They do, actually. If you ask nicely, most sellers will give you a finger as proof of quality. This actually holds true for most eat-out-of-hand type fruits offered. For example, I am often offered strawberries or small peaches to test before I buy.

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WOW that is awesome, wish I was there right now.

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Reminds me. Whenever I go in a supermarket (local, or places I'm visiting), I always make a run through the produce department, to see if they have anything weird, that I can plant. One time, in Fort Lauderdale, (Florida) I saw some passionfruit. I brought one to the checkout, and the clerk said to me, "Before I ring this up, I want to say they're expensive." I thought, OK, I'm only getting one. It came up at US$1.95. The next day, we visited a local (huge) flea market and, in the produce section, a woman had them at her stand. I asked how much, and she said, " Six for a dollar." I said that I couldn't use six, two woud be enough, and how much did I owe? She said, "A quarter." (25¢) I enjoyed the juice, planted the seeds and, in 7 months, had flowers and, in 10 months, ripe fruit.

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I should actually mention that I don't normally buy a whole raceme, because I can't eat that many bananas before they go all black and icky. I buy a large hand (somewhere between 20 and 30 fingers) for $1 from another vendor, who normally throws in three to six loose Sedas regardless of what or how much I buy. She also sells mandarin oranges the size of standard navels, at anywhere 25 to 30 for $1.

And on the subject of passionfruits, I bought 25 purple maracuya for $1 today, and I'm looking forward to juicing them.

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All I can say is WOW! I would be in heaven. Thanks for the pictures.

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I love that picture!!!!

Lets just pretend that I stood in front of IGA or Kroger and took pictures. haha

Deb

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I've been selling passion fruit for 25 cents each here in San Diego. I guess it's time to lower the price!

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Berkeley Bowl in Northern California has a nice banana selection with 6-8 types but it's about an hour drivefrom here so I seldom go here.

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I get mine at the gas station, wanna see a picture?

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OK, Scot, show us the picture. I really want to post some of my early experiences with TC, (not bananas, at that time, but I do have a pear tree in my yard that I grew from TC, and is now almost 30 years old), but I can't seem to find the time. Will be able to do it pretty soon, I hope.

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Great stuff lorax! Boy am I jealous. By the way my first attempt at speaking Spanish did not go so well. The girl at the register spoke no English and it didn't go as well as it could have. I did however end up with some Bonito bananas from Ecuador I assume are some var. of Cavendish as well as some unidentified plantains and some small ones I'm guessing were "goldfinger". A friend of my wife's who gave me the tostones and sauce recipe for the plantains is going to go to a big market about an hour away that supposedly has a huge selection of all kinds of produce and has volunteered to be my translator. I'll let you know how it goes.....Bob:nanadrink:

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Bonitos (I've been to the plantation) are Cavendishes, no doubt about it. Post a pic of your tiny nanners, I'll be able to tell you which kind they are.

And Chironex - You simply MUST post a picture of your gas-station banana store.

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ok here is where I get my nanners.. Mind you population of the town here is around 2,000.. Allyson sweetly neatened up the table so I could snap this shot.. Inspite of it was me that messed it up searching for the best bunches..



To make it a little more exciting... here is my fav nanner snack..
Nanner dipped in dry tang... YUMMMMM!!!!


Gina *BabyBlue*

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you can imagine my suprise when I found these little gems at my local....





I bought every one they had.. and the kids ador them!!!
Are these Dwarf Cavendish??
I need to put these on my got to have list!!!
Any other brave souls gonna post their local nanner fix???
Can't be worse than mine..
Gina *BabyBlue*

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Those minis are most likely not DCavs, since my Dcavs are never that round. Did the Dole Minis bag have a country of origin for those? They look like Oritos but there's somehting not quite right about the shape and size. The big ones are obviously standard Cavs - dwarf Cavs look exactly the same, just a touch shorter and growing on a shorter pstem.

Compare: this photo is Oritos and Sedas and Rosados.

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Could they be Veinte Cohol?

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Thanks for the reply!!
The bag says "Product of Costa Rica"
Would a nanner producing this size fruit always be a shorter plant??

Growing waaaay north of the nanner belt I'd like to have more nanners that produce good fruit but are manageable size.. I have no "winter storage" area.. But have plenty of south windows and space for plants infront of them.. My laundry room has lots of window space and it is the warmest room in the house and very humid year round.. but the celing is the shortest in the house.. I kept my CG there last winter and it survived nicely.. But will not fit this year..

I was suprised that the taste was this good.. for some reason I thought the taste would be rather bland..

Thanks for input!!!
CG is putting out new pups!!! maybe I'll be able to find someone to swap a CG pup for a mini nanner pup like what produced these little sweeties..

Gina *BabyBlue*

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Nope, not necessarily. Here's an Orito plant, and it's more than 8 feet tall.



You'd probably do best with the Dwarf varieties, as their plants are smaller but their fruit size is not as affected by the lessened height. If you want little, sweet bananas, on a relatively short pstem, I'd reccomend a dwarf ladyfinger variety of some sort. I'm sure someone here has one for trade...

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This just in: Dole's website says the following about Baby Bananas -

I don't believe them about the Oritos, because by all reports the Baby Bananas sold in the US have different flesh qualities to the Oritos I buy in the market (way up there at the top of the thread.) I'm more convinced about the Ladyfingers designation.

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I forgot these pics with last post..







I was just discussing these nanners with hubby.. I was surprised to hear him say he likes the baby nanner flavor BETTER than the full sized!!!

Would be nice if Dole would nail it down to just one..

Thanks for the 411 about the orito.. My CG is in the front room this winter.. it's new leaves have to bend a bit when they hit the ceiling..
it is currently about 6' tall including pot.. not sure what I will do if it doesn't bloom next summer..

Gina *BabyBlue*

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You can prune it, you know, to reduce height.

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I have a good assortment of bananas this week.

I can usually find the Orinoco, baby, and plantain at the grocery store. To my delight I found red, manzano, and Hawaiian plantains. I should bring a banana sampler to the thanksgiving diner this year.

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I definitely agree with your husband. The minis are sooo much better.

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I agree with your husband, Gina. The Minis are GREAT, much better than the regular.

I had them when I was in Florida, and I resent not buying their local produce at the store there. They had a large section of tropical fruits that I can not find here in Virginia. Like John, I typically go to the produce section, even locally, just to see if they have anything new. Unfortunately, it is rare to find anything other than the occasional mango (which I have never had...except preserved) and a few kiwi.

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From San Isidro de General, Costa Rica. Our favorite was a smaller slim banana with dry-ish yellow/orange flesh, not sure of the name. We spent most of the time in the Osa peninsula and got rattled by the earthquake.

I've got more pics and tales to come.

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I only buy bananas if its something interesting...

(sorry, the rotate function seems to be down right now)

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This is how we buy bananas and plantains, and this truck is in a better state than most fruit trucks.

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We have those too! Ours are usually little old Datsun trucks and you can barely see them under the nanners....

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I need to get my camera welded to my hand, as usually I never have it when I see things nana-related. Or else we are rocketing along at 100kph and the driver refuses to respond to screams of "stop the car".

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Same here. But hark! Today I bought an entire raceme of Oritos for $1.50, and as it came home with me I actually had my camera to take a photo of it...



So what am I gonna do with all those nanners? Fritters!

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That's what you have friends and neighbours for!! The price of bananas has rocketed here since the storms and floods caused so much damage, and regular nanas sell for the equivalent of 11 cents each, and people often buy them by the twos and threes - never tried to buy a whole bunch though - just too many! But those little oritos look yummy!

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$1.50 is actually an elevated price here for Oritos - if I were at the market at the other end of the city (which is a $5 cab ride from my house, rather than $2.50 to the one where I got these) that same raceme would have been about $0.50 - $0.75. And if you're buying from the roadside stands, that's about the price as well.

Normally, we just buy hands for about $1 - $1.50, but today for a lark we asked the seller the price of the raceme, and as it was what we were paying anyway, we figured "what the heck" and lugged it home.

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I hate you guys!

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So move to the tropics!

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If it were only that easy.....

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It is that easy, duh.

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You have to be HERE to be in the tropics Beth! You have no Tsunamis!:ha:

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Yeah yeah. I'm technically ecuatorial - I don't have to worry about the big winds. Even so!

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Some different bananas at the Hilo farmers market.


Left to right: Williams Cavendish, a Fe'i of some type (very rare to see here, this was the first time I ever got to try some Fe'i fruit!), Dwarf Brazilian.



Some type of Popo'ulu


Manzano (front, rounder fruit) and Dwarf Brazilian

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Gabe, how would you rate the taste of the Fe'i against the Cav? Very, very curious. Btw, they look really nice.

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:2200:Good afternoon Gabe, Is it legal to bring bananas back to the mainland, or how does one get permitted to do so?:2239:

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You have to have them inspected at the airport.

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:2200:Good, then does your "student farm" sell Fei's with an Ag. Certification?:2239:

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Well, having tried so many different bananas, and having a love of bananas in general, I guess I just kinda appreciate them all for their differences more than liking anyone more than others based on taste alone (though, there are definitely some that stand out).

The Fe'i bananas are strange, from their genetics and history to the fruit in your mouth, they are a completely different story from other bananas. I can't say with confidence that the ones I had were at all similar to a Cavendish in any way. The flesh is bright yellow, very soft (kinda gummy, like a thick paste) and (to me) similar in flavor and texture to a ripe, raw breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis). It is sweet like a sweetpotato or ripe breadfruit, but not sweet and tangy like a dessert banana. It is slightly sour and a tiny bit astringent but not enough to put off eating it raw. I put some pieces in the microwave for cooking (my standard for sampling what a particular banana is like when cooked), and even though they were completely ripe and edible in a raw state, they cooked up like a standard cooking banana (I've never had a banana that cooked so nicely when ripe, the ripe state must still have a high starch content but still remain palatable if uncooked) and was then rather similar to other cooked bananas, but still a little sour and gummy, but agreeable. There are a few seeds in some of the fruits, but many are malformed and they are rather soft, unlike biting into some Musa seeds, these crunch up easily and do not distract from eating the fruit. I would say I liked these ones better cooked, but I might end up eating the rest of them raw so as to not damage any potentially viable seeds!

On a technical note, it appeared as though it had 4 locules per ovary as opposed to the standard 3. Without many seeds and only looking at a ripe fruit, its hard to tell if this was just an illusion or really something unique.

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We don't have any rare bananas to sell right now, plants or fruits. Its easier to get the plants than the fruits though, and I have some plants of different Fe'i varieties but they are not for sale at this time.

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:abajo:Thank you, Please let me know when your student farm will have them ready. My wife and I now have more reasons to go to Hawaii.:2200:

Thank you and best wishes:2239: