Tastiest banana?
 

Hi crew,
I have been here a week or so, reading through old posts to learn about the gang, as well as new things I didn't know about bananas. My wife is much better at internet than me, I am just learning, so please bear with me. :)
I would like to ask the question of you, and you may have already made this thread somewhere, but as mentioned, slow on internet right now and just figuring all this stuff out basically. If so, please give me link. (she uploads pics for me, to let you know my capabilities to date)
to question:
What is YOUR own favorite species of banana fruit, and why? Can you describe taste? Of course cavendish is the favorite import commercially, but to know what real experts on bananas think would be quite an interesting read to me. Thanks guys and girls. :)
Gino

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Out of the 3 or 5 varieties my wife and I have tried, Manzano has us hands down. The only drawback to those are the size, just little guys about 3 inches or less when peeled but very nice flavor. Jamaican reds weren't bad but we liked the store bought Gran nain better than those.
My 2 cents.

Shaggy

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Oritos, which belong to the Sucrier group. They're 2-5 bites big, round, straight fingers with firm amber flesh, and they're sweet with a tropical fruit bouquet and a lingering vanilla aftertaste.

Running a close second, Rosaditos (a Jamaican Red x Orito hybrid) and Limones (which we suspect are either Monticristi or Orinoco.) Shaggy, Reds are better fresh off the tree, when the skin is almost purple.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

One of the best I have had is an African diploid called 'Muraru Mshale', it is thick and creamy but very firm with a strong banana flavor, similar to 'Gros Michel' but with a bit more of a general fruity flavor about it. Another favorite is an East African Highland banana called 'Mbwazirume', it is great cooked and raw when ripe, it is soft but firm with an interesting tang. However, I've never had a banana I didn't like and generally just take note of their differences rather than rank them by preference.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

For me, Señorita and Lacatan for dessert bananas. Saba and Praying Hands for cooking bananas. In both cases, flavor and texture are better than any other that I've tasted.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

I love plantains. I'm Italian, I suppose you can guess by name, :) but love Spanish cooking...very flavorful. When Nichole and me moved to Miami, I was introduced to Cuban food, and the flavors are exquisite, to say the least. Same with Mexican....which we run into more on the west coast of Florida, where we are now.

I've noticed each of you have particular tastebuds, which is what I'd really hoped for. (Variety is the spice of life)
Nichole took care of a huge parrot farm years ago, and during that time, learned how intense their tastebuds were, I think she told me one of the closest in amount to as human. So they all had their own favorite foods too.
(This paragraph in relation to all the different banana species you have chosen
as favorite. :) )

I eat bananas every single day too. I lost mine through freakish weather here last winter, and have been busy with carvings so have only begun to garden again. I am going to have to replace many, i really did not expect the weather we had and nothing was protected. Miss my ice cream, but think it's going to come back. :)
Gino

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

dont mean to pirate this thread but gabe that makes me jeolous i want to try all these bananas that i never heard of i just hope i see a bloom on my gros michel this year its getting big and i dont know if the stems get fat on these before they flower or not but mine is fat the base is a little smaller than a ice cream bucket and it put out 4 pups about a foot tall and 2 more comin out of the ground if you got any indept info on it PM me please i have looked around but cant find nothing i dont already know (sorry about jumping in here and changing the subject if anyone has coments just pm me)

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Well Gino good thread you have started here. Nice to know what the folks like. Here's my favs from Msia.
My personal line up for dessert 'naner which is on the top of my list gotta be;

Pisang Rastali. This is a medium size fruit up to 5+inches. It is not overly sweet but has a nice acidic tang. The pulp is slightly on the firm side when fully ripen. It is easy to recognised as when it ripens, it's dark with sugar spots and streaks. This is more apparently in the kampong heirloom version like in the pix. Dessert type.


Next is the Pisang Awak which is a plump 6+inch fruit. The pulp is not overly sweet when fully ripen but extremely buttery. It is both dessert and cooking type. I enjoy it very much when simmered in butter.


For cooking type, my fav is the Pisang Nangka (Nangka as in Jackfruit in Malay). Not a good looker but it has a unique aroma reminiscent of the jackfruit. Fruit size is around 8+in, slender. Pulp is tangy if eaten ripe but very sweet and still aromatic when cooked. In order to savour the flavour to the fullest, I do not use any batter when cooking it, just butter.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

I also love it when Nichole only cooks the plaintains (you call cooking types?) in butter. I hate the batter! And details on types for dessert, cooking etc...help me too. Thank you also for the pictures Tog :)
Gino

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Man. I've never had anything but the plain old store-bought cavendish. Obviously I need to broaden my horizons! (Which hopefully will eventually include the bananas I'm planting giving me fresh fruit. *crosses fingers*)

Are there any places to go where you can order some of these bananas online? I'd love to try a few varieties, but I kind of doubt there are any local places to go for them. Though I may check out the Market of Choice, they're kind of hippie/yuppie/trendy and have odd fruits sometimes. Mostly their thing is stuff that's locally grown, but I might luck out...

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Spark,
I have tasted a few of the other varieties, my 'ice cream' is great...well...'was'... :) that's why i asked about other people's opinions on their own tastes. And I want to experiment too :)
Gino

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Google search "purchase tropical fruit online" or something to that effect, only catch is that it is dreadfully expensive and the cheapest place I found, I still paid almost 40 bucks for 2 hands of manzanos, 1 asian guava, and 4 caimitos. Which if I was able to pick it up would have only costed me around 12 bucks.

Shaggy

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

ailpha010,
I would actually spend the money on the plant(s)...my wife taught me that years ago. :) She never liked me to bring her flowers...said she wanted the 'roots attached'...so anytime I think of flowers, fruit, flora, fauna,...it has to be biologically living :). I hope soon I can do trading here on this board, am waiting for some of my plants to become viable enough to do this...maybe we could trade? :) Where do you live, what do you grow? (besides bananas, of course)
Gino:woohoonaner:
edited; i DO want to know the tastes though, it will educate me moreso on the plants I wish to replace, and understand your above post :)

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

My favorate thus far is Pisang Klotek. It has a very distinct Pineapple after taste.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Spark, if you've ever eaten the bananas from Chiquita, you've had Gran Nain too...

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

manzanos are small bananas in hands of around 12-18 and are nicely sweet with a fruity aftertaste. Caimito is commonly called STAR APPLE is generally green or purple and has a sweet plummy/citrus taste to me and is not to be confused with carambola which is STAR FRUIT. Asian guava that I tried was horrid! I may have tried it before it was properly ripe, but it was extremely astringent, the scent when cut almost made my eyes water. It was like sticking my face in a tank of witch hazel and rubbing alcohol mixed.

Anyways, most of the fruit I order are basically a try before you buy type deal. I try the fruit, and if my family and I even just like it, then I will try to grow it. My big fruit drawback is that I live in zone 5b/6a and 95% of exotic plants (especially fruit trees) will perish in my weather. But that doesn't necessarily stop me. I am currently growing 1 dwarf cavendish banana, 1 ice cream banana, 1 double mahoi banana, 1 dwarf lady finger banana, 1 medium sized garden with about 20 varieties of left side of normal veggies, germinating passiflora incarnata "maypop" passion fruit, japanese barberry, and recently found growing in my weeds are wild blackberries. As to tastes....not sure yet, I'll get back to you on those.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

:ha: I thought the same thing when I tried it in Thailand last year! I'd only tried guava when it was nice and soft and yellow. This guava in Thailand was much bigger and hard, and the taste was just about like you described, lol...all except for the watery eyes.

To stay on topic, I still think the best that I've tried are the old grocery store bananas. Of course, I've only tried a few, such as Jamaican Red, Pisang Mas, Orinoco, Kluay Khai, Namwah, and FHIA-03 Sweetheart. There may be another one or two that I'm forgetting. Hey, now that I look at the list I just wrote, I wonder why I said "I've only tried," lol. That's not a bad list! But like Gabe said, it's hard to put one ahead of another, since they are all unique in their own way. I really wasn't too impressed with the Jamaican Red though. The Pisang Mas I had this morning (well, the three I had this morning) was almost too sweet. We even grow Dwarf Cavendish at school, and had over 100 fruits from it last year. I still think the one from the grocery store was better!

Frank

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

That's wierd Frank. I think the worst banana to come from my garden was way better than any grocery store banana, including my Dwarf Cavendish, of which I just got through eating several a few moments ago! I've never been a fan of overly ripe bananas, actualy with the ones from the store I like them a bit green, but the Cavendish from my garden are awesome when fully ripe! To each their own I guess.

PS: I just remebered I didn't much care for Orinocos. Bleh, like fluffy half sweet cake.

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

Yeah, I'm Weird Frank! Been called worse I suppose, lol. The other bananas I've tried were good, I just still like the taste of the store bananas the best. Then again, it's the store-bought (Gran Nain?) that I eat everyday, and the others are few and far between. I'll be getting to try some Veinte Cohol bananas in a couple of months (or less), so maybe they will change my mind. I guess if I lived in Cal or Fla and had fruit hanging from my plants all of the time, it would be a different story, lol.

Frank

Re: Tastiest banana?
 

For the sake of learning more from you wonderful folks, and at same time showing my ignorance, is the 'Gran Nain' you speak of the 'Cavendish' ...or are they two different plants? Thanks in advance, :)
Gino