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RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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Posted by rowdy13 9a FL (My Page) on Wed, Nov 4, 09 at 19:21
| Is there something that one can do to improve the flavor of bananas?
I received a banana pup from my parents many years back from a group of trees that were in their yard when they moved in. We have no idea what kind of banana it is. This is the first time mine have produced fruit. My parents said that their bananas were starchy and bland. Theirs are in very sandy soild and get very little water. Mine are heavily mulched, gets some shade and is growing among many other plants.
Would extra watering or fertilizer improve the flavor? Something else? It looks like I'm going to have a lot of bananas.
Thanks,
Steve in Valrico
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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- Posted by dghays Z10A FL Brevard (My Page) on
Wed, Nov 4, 09 at 19:31
| Late in the game now to affect the taste, but a light fertilization and regular water will do what can be done. Bananas should get regular fertilization (monthly) and water during the growing season. Nothing on earth will make an inferior variety taste superior. If that's the way it ends up tasting, dig out the whole patch and get Namwa, apple, Pisang Ceylon, Misi Luki or a similar top flight tasting banana. Gary |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| Steve Nice looking bananas! I have about 15 different kinds. Each was handpicked by me, considering taste as top priority. Bananas are the easiest thing to grow, and if you have somebody with a good variety pups, you can get them for free. Anybody who grows bananas have a lot of pups all the time. If you were in my area, I would give you some. I prefer sweet dessert bananas and the cooking kind. I don't really care for the sub-acid ones. But some other people might prefer those.:-) If you want to give a try with your banana, a recommended fertilizer is 12 parts 8-2-8 plus 1 part 0-0-60 (potash) or 8 parts 6-6-6 plus 1 part 0-0-60. I make it simple on myself, I use all my leftover soil from the container tomatoes after the season is over and that is the fertilizer that I use. It is doing well for me, all my 15 bananas have flowered and giving fruit for the past 2 years. Here are some of my favorites that I am just eating now. 
On the left is Hua Moa, a Polynesian cooking banana and on the right is Nam Wa, an Indonesian lady finger banana, very sweet! Silvia |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| could it be plantains not bananas? just a thought. |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas- ?
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| Hi coffeemom Same family... And the other cooking banana that I have is a plantain French Horn. Can be eaten green and ripe, always cooked. The Hua Moa can be eaten ripe without cooking and is very, very, sweet. I am eating one now. When green can be used for cooking. Silvia |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| Sorry Silvia, I posted without reading yours. I meant did Rowdy have plantains. It seems he also has a cooking banana. |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| Kristi, I did not look either that you were posting at the same time than I did. We are still friends.:o) Silvia |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| I'm not sure what I have. I'd heard that it took 8 years for a banana to produce fruit so I accepted the plant as a foliage plant. Now that it's got fruit, I'm curious as to what it is and if the fruit can be used. This may have peaked my interest enough to replace it if it's not a 'good eating' variety. Does it really take 8 years to get fruit? Steve |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| Steve -- It takes about a year and a half for bananas to fruit. The fruit can be used if it reaches close to maturity. Some members of The Tropical Fruit Club will eat the green bananas as a starchy potato substitute. Boiled and mashed. Silvia said that she doesn't like the sub-acid ones but I do. My husband won't eat the bananas that I grow because they don't taste like the ones in the grocery store. Everyone has their favorites. Christine |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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Sylvia
How often do you fertilize the bananas? I have two plants I bought at the Leu Gardens Plant Sale last spring. Do I need to cover during frost this year?
Brenda |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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- Posted by tomncath 9B(microclimate 10A) (My Page) on
Fri, Nov 6, 09 at 7:31
| And in Zone 10 with no frost we were eating bananas at exactly 12 months for the Dwarf Cavendish Mahoi. Nine months to fruit stalk and 3 months to fruit maturity. If you fertilize, water and keep the pups down to no more than three most bananas will bear within 18 months, as Christine said. |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| Hi Brenda The bananas are in the ground about 2 years, that is when we moved here. In the beginning, I tried to fertilize monthly with the same banana fertilizer that the grower used. But of course this can get expensive after I run out. Then I came with the alternate solution to fertilize after the tomato season is over, the mix has Nutricote 13-13-13 and is a 9 month slow release fertilizer. I put the used tomato containers soil twice a year, because I grow tomatoes 2 seasons. The first winter that I had here, we got hit with the freeze. Could not covered tall bananas, they even had fruit in one of them before been 1 year old. They froze, and had brown leaves after that, except the Indonesian one, that looked the best. And I lost the banana bunch. If we have another freeze this year, I am not going to worry too much because I know the bananas will come back in the Spring. And any fruiting bunches that did not have time to ripen, will be picked and put in the laundy room to ripen. I have 3 fruiting now, and that is the plan. Which varieties did you get? Silvia |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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| I'm thinking Rowdy's bananas look like plantains, too. They are delicious...Here's what to do: Cut them as soon as the are plump and done looking but still green. Let them ripen until they are dead ripe (black!). Peel--you will need a knife, plantains are more difficult to peel than bananas. Slice them about 1/4 to a 1/2 an inch thick. Put the slices in a hot skillet with a little butter (don't crowd the pan...)Turn once when bottom is nice and brown and cook the other side...When they are just about done, sprinkle with a little bit of brown sugar, and let it melt and caramelize a bit. Serve as a vegetable...but tastes as good as dessert to me! |
RE: RFI: Better Tasting Bananas
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Steve, your first responder, Gary, said it all. If you don't know what you have, and it tastes bland, just dig it out and buy plants you know more about. You could easily have a " Horse" banana.
I was told by my nursery supplier in Homestead, " Going Bananas ", that you will start getting bananas one year after you plant them. I verified this in my backyard as well, assuming proper fertilizing and watering. One exception to this is the Dwarf Red, which is 18 months behind the others in producing fruit, but well worth the extra wait.
Always chop out the pups at the base, leaving only 3.
I have a Nam Wa and a Dwarf Red growing in my new raised bed now, - planted them in early March and they are well over 15 feet tall. Am expecting my first stalk of delicious Nam Wa's in 4 more months.
I also have a few Cavendish plants growing in a corner, they are the same as the ones purchased in the stores,..bland.
Quoted from the instructions from my supplier :
" Your plants are happiest at 75 - 95 deg, water them well after planting in soil. Once new leaves appear, water once a week. When it's in the ground, when any danger of frost has passed, you may fertilize with any good general fertilizer with higher potassium, like a 6-2-12. Apply approx 1 pound monthly and increase up to 3 pounds monthly as more growth occurs. Dramatic results will show at this time."
Good luck ! |
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