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Gros Michel bananas. The variety of banana that used to be dominate in the US until the 1950s. Hard to find now
Removed - Rule 6I ordered a box of random odd varieties of bananas from a company called Miami Fruit and these just happened to be one of the varieties included. I have heard they’re a bit better than cavendish
Well, what do they taste like?
I’ll get back to you on that in a couple days when they’re ripe but the other bananas I got were definitely better than a cavendish
The reason everyone likes these better is they taste the same before they are ripe - so they are edible much longer than a cavendish.
Go ahead and eat one. Tell me if Wired lied.
Is that so…
Welp. OP died from under ripe bananas. RIP
I suppose that explains why those banana's are less popular these days.
Another mystery solved by Reddit!
Next can we investigate why people put apostrophe's where they don't belong?
Fun fact, the less brown/yellow bananas are, the more starch/fiber is available. As the banana ripens, the this converts to sugar, making them sweeter and softer, until it starts to ferment and the sugar starts being consumed, but it's usually fully brown/black by that point
Meanwhile I've heard that the reason we have the cavendish is purely marketing. They spent so much advertising the gros michel, that when we devastated most of the world's supply, we picked the species with the most physical resemblance sacrificing taste.
User deleted comment
30d
The dangers of monoculture.
Correct - excuse my phrasing. The supply was devastated.
Remindme! 3 days
I had some of these a year or so ago, and they were better for sure, but not mind-blowingly better. I’d definitely take a gros michel all day erra day.
But to me, it fell short of what I was hoping for. I’d be interested to see another opinion, so looking forward to your take.
Admittedly, I reeaally like fake banana flavor and was hoping for something more like that. 🤷
I asked a food scientist once if the fake banana flavor/ Gros Michel was accurate and they said no, that the banana’s flavor profile is difficult to replicate, which makes it too expensive. There are layers to a flavor and apparently bananas have many layers, so basically, laboratory banana flavor is just one or two layers of the whole flavor profile.
No that’s onions. Onions have layers
Cakes have layers
Parfait! Parfait has layers!
Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait."?
Like ogres?
No that's bricks. Bricks have layers.
Same deal as the "truffle" in most truffle oil. One chemical from the flavor profile of some truffles.
Yes officer, this one right here, they said they like fake banana flavor.
Haha! Just learning I’m in the minority. But Crazy Bananas FTW!
Man, look at all these wrong people pretending banana isn't the superior flavouring.
I quite like "banana" - but I think "green apple" is the best artificial flavor.
Youre a crazy banana
When they're ripe? They're already covered in black spots, how much more ripe do you want? Are you waiting until the whole thing turns black and mushy and becomes a breeding ground for fruit flies?
You made this whole post and won’t even say what they taste like. Honestly fuck you.
Tastes like a banana.
I ordered 10 pounds of gros michels earlier this year from the same distributor as you. They’re going to shrink and turn black shortly after they’ve ripened. There’s a short window of time between when they’re not ready to peel and eat and when they are ready. So keep them stored at a proper temp (I think 73°).
I’m expecting a ranking/review of each banana variety once they’ve ripened. Please and thanks.
How was that banana bro?
Tastes like a slightly more sweet banana
How'd they taste?
Like regular bananas but slightly better and slightly sweeter
Anything like the banana flavoring? Thanks for the update!
Not so much. Smells like it though
At the Asian market they sell these small bananas like about 3 inches long…I think the call them Ducasse Banana maybe? They come in like a bunch that kinda looks like a semi-circle.. they just have so much flavor and they are sweet and it has this fruity taste I don’t know how to describe but it’s much better than the cavendish in my opinion… uh they look really cute too, cavendish by comparison.
They have a very strange texture and bitter taste when eaten slightly underripe, though.
Eta: Nvm, I was conflating them with Lady Finger bananas.
Banana flavoring was created based on these. So when people say a banana flavored thing doesn’t taste like bananas what they mean is it doesn’t taste like a cavendish.
There has been a disease spreading through cavendish farms so we might experience another variety change in the next 10 years. Given that there’s far more varieties and cavendish is considered the red delicious of the banana world, I look forward to whatever comes next.
The flavor is isoamyl acetate and, funnily enough, it was isolated and used for deserts before the rise in popularity of the banana in the US.
There has been a disease spreading through cavendish farms so we might experience another variety change in the next 10 years... I look forward to whatever comes next.
The current leading candidate to replace the Cavendish seems to be the Goldfinger banana, per Wikipedia they are already on sale in Australia and seem to be selling alright down there. The fruits are slightly smaller sized than Cavendish and the flavor profile is also somewhat changed, to include hints of "green apple" flavor.
However Goldfinger is still just a candidate, if it winds up as a flop in groceries elsewhere in the world then other varieties are also in development, including the enigmatically named "FB920" which is supposedly being test marketed in a couple areas of Europe. I wasn't able to find any additional info on how that one tastes, unfortunately.
Literally the same disease that got the gros michel. And it spread because of the way we monocrop one type of banana. We didn’t learn any lesson from the first time.
Different disease, but same reason. Mono-crops are never a good thing in the long run.
Oh really? I could have swore it was the same disease. But nevertheless yeah mono crops provide a perfect avenue to spread disease among crops.
You had me doubting myself so I double checked. Looks like technically both statements are correct. Both are from Panama Disease, but different strains.
I thought that one of the reasons for adopting the Cavendish was it's resistance to the fungus that was wreaking havoc on the Gros Michel.
Edit: Nope. That was a common misconception. The switch to the Cavendish was more because it grew well in the same soils as infected Gros Michel.
Yeah so it looks like is a variant of the same fungus. Basically it mutated and was like “fuck these bananas too”. And the fact that we use mono cropping just puts gas in the fire.
Yeah. Tropical Race 1 (TR1) was the variant of Panama disease that got the Gros Michel, and the Cavendish is currently getting infected by the TR4 variant.
No, banana flavoring was not based on these.
It will take much longer than 10 years to transition away form current cavendish. GM could easily solve this problem but consumers and producers will insted throw as many pesticides as possible at plantations because of scientific ignorance. Given all the systems set up specifically to grow, harvest, ship, and store cavendish it's most likely we'll keep them as the default consumer banana, unfortunately.
Okay so I tasted them. Take a cavendish taste, make it a little sweeter, and then slightly more creamy. Thats basically what it is. So basically it tastes like a standard cavendish but a REALLY good one
Like bananas
Wow that’s expensive, $127?!
It's a banana, how much could it cost, $127?!
Here: Go watch a Star War
Saw that the gros michel said $17 and was interested, till I saw that's just for one banana.
I've always wanted to try Miami Fruit. I discovered them back when I was vegan
Same here. I've been eyeing a couple of tropical fruits on their website but didn't know if it was a legit company.
Just go to an Asian grocery. A good one will stock most if not all of the fruits (like mangosteen) for a fraction of the price.
I'm looking to buy ice apples and Asian stores where I live don't carry those.
Omg what was your experience with Miami fruit?? I’ve wanted to try ice cream beans and a few other things but their multi year waitlist has me too cautious
Multi year waitlist? Yeah no I didn’t have to deal with any of that but it’s probably because I chose the box where they just picked whatever random bananas were in season
Is the stuff they send ripe, or close to? Is it worth the price?
Depends. The yellow dragon fruits I got(delicious btw) were completely ripe and ready when I got them. The bananas though took some days and some of them took a week and ones like this one I’m on week 2 now
John Bananas ova here
Love their products hate their prices lol
Mamey Sapote is so good
$17 for a single banana or $127 for a small box. that doesn’t include shipping.
Edit- $19.99 shipping for a single banana to deliver to North Carolina. So nearly $40 for one banana.
I thought of this exact scene and was confident someone would post it.
17 for a single banana or $127 for a small box
Are they from Balenciaga??
*bananciaga
This is absolutely insane. People actually pay these prices?? Wild
I mean it sounds fun to do, like, once. They send varieties of fruit you wouldn’t normally find at the grocery stores. Idk how many people are actually doing something like that regularly.
If I made enough money I’d for sure do that maybe a couple times a year on various exotic fruits or mushrooms. I don’t drink or smoke weed anymore and I love food. It would be interesting and a fun way to spend some spare cash.
The ones that banana sweets based their flavour on?
Damn, that's +15 Mult right there
1/6 chance to go extinct though 😭
You want that to happen though so you can get cavendish in a later shop
But if it goes extinct you get a chance at cavendish
Bananas or humans?
Equally significant..
Yes
That’s 1/4 no?
It got buffed in the latest patch, it's 1/6 now.
Not necessarily a buff, considering that many pick it up for the cavendish possibility, but I do consider it a buff because I usually pick it up early game and it helps a lot
Oh i didn’t know! Back to grinding the gold stakes then
1/6 is a nerf. You want it to go extinct so you can get cavendish
Better than the 1/4 it used to be!
i thought i was on r/balatro
Bro me too
Man Balantro is haunting me and I never even played the game myself!
I’m waiting for a mobile port, so I can Balatro anywhere.
No fucking way 🤣
Laughs in Balatro
GOD DAMN IT. THAT WAS MY JOKE
I’ve always wanted to try these, but I honestly don’t know if I can justify $17 for a single banana. The site definitely cool options.
I mean if it’s a once in a lifetime try it thing, it seems to justify the price. You’d pay more for that for subpar snacks at a ball game/movie. My SO convinced me to go to Thailand strictly on the idea that I’d be able to easily get one of these bananas. Trip was awesome, bananas were great
They probably got close and likely can’t be grown commercially widespread because it’s still out there and could wipe them out again. But we do also have big seed vaults to preserve a ton of various kinds in case this happens
But banana trees don't have seeds...
Well the ones we eat these days don’t ( or very very rarely do) but wild bananas do
They actually do but it’s very rare, so cross breeding programs have to go through thousands of gros michel bananas to recover even a few seeds.
I somehow have purchased two books specifically about bananas at various points in my life
I mean it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $17?
But you can make 4 interest-free payments of $4.25 and have that banana paid off by Labor Day!
What's the going interest rate on banana loans?
123.6%. It’s bananas
Thanks, Gwen
$17 is an expensive banana, but it isn’t bad if it’s something you only do once.
You could buy it, plant it, wait a few years and then start selling $400 bunches
Come mr tally man, tally me banana.
I would, but daylight come and me want go home.
Always bet on banana
There’s always money in the banana stand
What could a banana cost? 10 dollars?
I know the reference, but probably more than $10 in this case. A variety box OP got starts at $127 according to the website. Don't know how much fruits are in a box, but yeah, it actually might cost that much or more
Site says small 127$ box is 3-5lbs of fruit, medium bannas are about 1/4 pound, so yeah around 7-11$ per banna.
Site says small 127$ box is 3-5lbs of fruit,
What in the fuck
You can buy the Gros Michel bananas straight out. They have an option to buy a single one for $17. I’m sure it’s cheaper per banana if you buy the bulk boxes, but those are still pricey bananas, lol.
Nice username
I read it as... Gros Michael Banana... and thought how much would it have cost?
Go banana!
balatro lore
Balatro be ballin
I got some from Miami fruit. Waited til they were appropriately ripe.
They tasted like grocery store bananas, but with a very slightly creamier texture.
The Miami fruit ones are just a cross breed. Disappointed.
My favorite from them so far that I got was the Cuban red and the pisang raja
One night after getting high I went down a multi-hour rabbit hole about banana varieties and I learned about how the Gros Michel banana really is the "banana" flavor we know now. Haven't been able to try one yet, but I'd love to.
Glad they are still around - had heard otherwise.
Same here, I was conviced they were extint due to some kind of banana sickness. Perhaps that´s an urban ledgend?
They’re not extinct, but that’s why they’re very rare. Bananas are constantly re-grafted instead of planted (we bred the seeds out), so they are very susceptible to viruses and fungi and other diseases
Man, we got banana trees from our compost pile and they were impossible to kill.
Yes but we do the grafting thing with Cavendish too. So what is it about the Gros michel banana's that makes them too expensive to mass produce? Despite being imported, they're by far the cheapest fruit per gram at my local grocery store, even when there's in-season local fruit available. How does that square
Gros michel used to be the normal banana, then (some kind of disease, virus or other) wiped them almost completely, this disease is still redily floating about making large scale farming very hard. Cavendish bananas are not susceptible to this same specific disease. Having learned from the gros michel disease banana farms now exercise very strict routines to keep any potential diseases out of plantations.
The cavendish banana is at risk and it might suffer the same fate soon.
That being said i'm not an expert or even that knowledgeable on this so im probably at least somewhat off
It’s called Panama Disease and there is constant work being done to make a banana that is not susceptible/ less susceptible to it. The Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement is the premier place where this takes place. It’s in Leuven, Belgium, at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The reason they do this instead of making a fungicide to fight the disease is the fungus spreads so rapidly and mutates as it goes. So by blasting everything with fungicide, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the mutations without royally messing up the entire ecosystem. However, our cavendish bananas are all clones, which means, in a word, monoculture. So if one is susceptible to disease, they all are. There are many different varieties of bananas globally but they are locally grown. To get them from a little village to a boat to send out into the world is cost prohibitive. If you’d like a real eye-opening experience, watch “Bananas!” a documentary on how banana workers have been exploited ever since United Fruit figured out how to get bananas to the masses. There’s even a CIA plot to overthrow a democratically elected Guatemalan President. (Spoiler: it was successful) Bananas are literally one of my favorite things, but they have a very sordid history.
The history of bananas is so fascinating, from both an ecological standpoint, to the.. bloodied history of it!
I love bananas so much. My dream vacation is to go to Southeast Asia and just eat all the different bananas. I’d keep a field journal. I’d make t-shirts. At least where I live, I can get baby Thai bananas and burro bananas.
No, nothing wiped them out completely. It made them commercially univable to grow on massive scales. It was about 80 years to fully transition to cavendish types.
So many things incorrect here. I've been farming bananas for 16 years and have grown over 100 types myself. Bananas aren't grafted. Ever. They're an herbaceous and not woody plant.
We didn't breed the seeds out of them. This happened naturally through cross pollination resulting in sterile hybrids. For 10,000 years or so human realized this and kept moving such bananas to new places and they continue to reproduce through cloning themselves. This cloning has low error rates and over this time we've ended up with well over 1000 banana varieties.
Nonexistent grafting did not make them susceptible to diseases. There is a huge variation in susceptibility to different banana diseases and pests. You may be thinking of monoculture, which is true of any plant, that when they're all genetically virtually identical any pathogen is going to impact all of them.
They’re just not commercially viable on a large scale because of the disease. They still exist (obviously).
yeah same here and now I want to try one badly
Extinct!
I thought those were extinct???
They are still produced in small quantities in some locations but absolutely not at commercial scale
Why not? Can you elaborate?
Farms growing Gros Michel were decimated by a wilting fungus called Panama disease (that still lives in the soil?). Uninfected farms can grow smaller amounts but it fell out of favor with the people who export since yields could be unreliable as farms were hit with the disease and they switched to Cavendish.
I think I read once that all of the plants used were clones and that factored in to it
All commercial banana plants are grafted clones.
Yeah, the fungus can survive in soil for decades so once you get hit you basically can't grow bananas there for the rest of your life. The only real treatment is to not get infected in the first place. IPM wasn't really a thing back then, especially not in banana-producing regions.
Banan disease wiped out most of the population... I'd assume it would be hard to bring them back since it would wipe it back out again... I don't know if that last part is true, I kinda made it up, but it makes sense to me
They could introduce a GMO fungi immune variety. That's how they saved Papaya from the same kind of extinction.
only a 1 in 6 chance for that
How do we know how big they are without a scale?
Each banana is, on average, roughly as big as an average banana. I mean, if you believe Wikipedia.
Gross michelle!
Wash it
Every school in the 90s had a gross Michelle, and a hot Michelle.
"Michelle just said 'hi' to me on the bus!"
"I just saw Michelle eat a booger..."
And you know which Michelle they were talking about.
It’s a single Gros banana, Michel. How much could it cost, ten dollars?
40 with shipping, apparently. Miami Fruit ain’t cheap.
YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
WE HAVE NO BANANAS TODAY
Banana farmers: - Plants all around the world are dying because there is no variation, let's do the same mistake again.
So these will taste like the little banana candies you buy at 7-11?
Needs a banana for scale.
Careful, the skins are really slippery.
*dominant
Gros Michael, bananas still exist? - Gob
They do. - narrator
Named after the dad in Family Ties!
I thought they all died?
That’s what Big Banana wants us to think!
A fungus killed all major productions, but we still have the seeds. It’s grown in small quantities in several areas
They are still very common in Asia.
I with there was a banana for scale.
In SE Asia you can commonly find Gros Michel in markets.
For anytime not familiar, this banana was almost made extinct from a disease affecting the trees. The bananas we get now were resistant to the disease and became the standard as they replanted the plantations.
"NOT THE BANANAS!!"
They taste like Circus Peanuts™
Does it taste like artificial banana like they say? I need to know!
I ordered some big mikes a few years back. They taste like artificial banana, just not as intense and not as sweet as the flavoring.
It's what the artificial banana flavor is based off of.
However, having tried the actual fruit, it's just a sliiiightly sweeter taste. It's nothing crazy.
If you get your bananas from a grocery store, you've basically been eating the same banana for years. They're all clones
It’s a banana, Gros Michel. How much could it possibly cost? $17?
according to my research, it costs $5 but has a 1/6 chance to disappear after each blind defeated
I thought the Gross Michel were completely obliterated. Am I wrong?
The best bananas I ever had, we bought at a fruit stand in Costa Rica. They were small, so you would have to eat 2 or maybe 3 to equal a large banana. I have no idea what kind they were, but ohhhhh man were they good.
I'm going to look into this mail order service.
they don’t get grown for mass production due to susceptibility to disease, so a more hardy variation replaced it as the primary agricultural banana crop
I thought they were extinct!
It's a banana Gros Michel what could it cost, 10 dollars?
Do they taste like the banana amoxicillin? I love the bananas you typically find in stores now, but artificial banana flavor makes me gag, probably because I had strep and ear infections constantly as a kid and had to take so much of those cursed tasting antibiotics.
Do they taste like candy?
They were a monoculture. A single disease wiped out nearly all of them in a short time.
They tasted different. The taste of banana flavored candy is based off of their flavor.
And these are the ones that make you slip.
This is what all the artificial banana flavored candy flavor is based on. I wanna try one.
I read the book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel and it was supremely interesting. Gros Michel bananas are discussed of course among many other things.
Cavendish, the kind you find on almost all supermarket shelves, is seriously threatened by Panama disease and the race is currently on to develop a new banana that is tasty enough and resistant enough to disease.
ah, the fabled banana flavored bananas. where did you find these?