Baby bananas vs. full sized bananas

Most of us enjoy a piece of fruit now and then. Trying to include more fruit and vegetables in my diet, I recently tried baby bananas for the first time. I was surprised not only by the creamier, denser texture, but by the overall sweetness. I've seen them at Whole Foods, but they've got to be available elsewhere.

These would be really fabulous in a traditional banana pudding (with vanilla wafers ) I guess I'll be making a batch of Creme Patissier soon!

If you're talking aobut the little mini-bananas called Niños, they are available at most Mexican markets. I just bought some at Family Fruit Market yesterday.

A couple of my positives of baby vs. big (regular) bananas:

- Baby bananas are a nice size, if you're a tad hungry have 1, a bit hungrier, then go for 2; the sizes at the market for the regular variety are often too big.

- Sweetness, less bitter.

- They keep for much, much longer. Regular sized bananas last just a few days after you bring them home. I'd say the babies last twice as long, around a week. I don't understand why, but they do.

My hubby picks them up in Vietnamese town (Argyle). I imagine these bananas are pretty much the same whereever you pick them up, so then it's just a matter of price and covenience. I think I've seen them at Jewel at Ashland/Wellington, but I can't attest to how fresh or good they are. In fact, I think when I saw them at Jewel last, they were looking sad.

I have to agree with the baby bananas being much sweeter, creamier and last longer. They are very popular in Philippines - usually the norm for bananas there. They also have the larger size known here in the US but are much more pricer.

All I know is that the banana producers are seriously scared about a fungal blight on the standard "Cavendish" banana plant. The catch with those is that they're *all* clones of a common genetic stock, that produces sterile-seeded fruit.

So Chiquita and other banana wholesalers are looking for other banana varieties that can be grown easily, transport well, etc.

Another note: bananas (counting plantain) are the fourth-highest calorie-producing food in the world after rice, wheat and corn.

All these details courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine

There are scores (hundreds?) of edible bananas, most of them smaller than the big, tasteless, shippable things America perfected in the banana republics. My favorite is the manzana/mananilla, which has a tart, apple-like taste. The thin skin makes shipping iffy, but that was never a problem in FL when the point of origin was the back yard.

Erik's citrus experiments have me seriously considering a banana tree or two. As far north as Cairo, IL, I have seen bananas growing and bearing fruit. I'm thinking a mature plant might do ok if you were to cut it back and keep it inside over the winter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/nyre ... anana.html

I do not really care much for the baby bananas.

I strongly prefer the Thai bananas. They last a lot longer than any other bananas that I have purchased. The skin can turn extremely black and the fruit is still very firm with an excellent taste. They are great for cooking.

JeffB wrote:Erik's citrus experiments have me seriously considering a banana tree or two. As far north as Cairo, IL, I have seen bananas growing and bearing fruit. I'm thinking a mature plant might do ok if you were to cut it back and keep it inside over the winter.

While I don't doubt that a "hardy" banana plant can survive in a sheltered location outdoors that far north, I have neither heard nor read of a plant actually bearing fruit much above the deeper South. Bananas take longer than a single season of growth from runner to fruit maturity and require consistently warmer weather than the North. Here in middle TN near Nashville (zone 7a) the plant corms themselves are quite reliable with minimal mulch and grow abundantly during the season but I have never seen one with the stalk survive the winter still green and definitely no bananas.

Here is a good, short primer on culture and cultivars:

http://www.southernliving.com/plants/banana