August 03, 2005

Can the Cavendish be saved? [possibly disturbing picture of a banana being operated on].

The banana is too perfect it seems. A fungus or bacterial disease that infects one plantation could march around the globe and destroy millions of bunches, leaving supermarket shelves empty. [more inside]

posted by tellurian 18 years ago
  • They are trying to diversify the species. Some of the bananas are thick and over a foot long; others are slender and pinky-size. Something for everyone.
  • MonkeyFilter: Something for everyone
  • Monkeyfilter: thick and over a foot long sorry.
  • I saw this article recently, before the post here, and have already bought "other" bananas. I live by a ton of Asian markets and they frequently have wacky bananas and the time seemed right to try them. As typical with bananas, they were too green when I bought them and they're only now about right to eat. I suspect that tomorrow I'll be trying them. One is about the size of a nice medium girth and length dill pickle, the other like a big fat breakfast pork sausage.
  • Monkeyfilter: The size of a nice medium girth and length dill pickle. Monkeyfilter: Like a big fat breakfast pork sausage. I... I'm sorry. Truly.
  • sk, are you looking for MORE??? greedy, greedy, greedy...
  • And here I thought the reason bananas had seemingly shrunk was that I grew up! When I was a kid, some bananas were a foot long. (Goodbye, Gros Michel! you really did have more character!) Thanks, tellurian!
  • nonbinary: The 'nice medium girth and length dill pickle' could be unsatisfying but the 'big fat breakfast pork sausage' sounds rather promising. Please give us your opinion after you have tried them both.
  • Tellurian, this is the most excellent post evar. /sob
  • Shit, sorry goetter. Eek! away Tracy. How the hell did that happen? It has August as the dateline of the article I linked to so I thought a look through the August posts here would suffice. At least yours was treated seriously, I got the nudge, nudge, wink, wink version and had no choice but to go with the flow.
  • Shouldn't that be "ook away"? You Pratchett fans get it, right? Right!?? I'm such a nerd.
  • Eek!en Sie nicht. You have exquisite taste in FPPs, is all. /sobbing unconsolably
  • Awww, can't you people monkeys think of anything but bananas..? Monkeyfilter: I got the nudge, nudge, wink, wink
  • Yes, Flagpole: Carrots, we think about carrots too. Bananas and carrots.
  • Oh! and potates! Bananas, carrots and potatoes.
  • And cheese. We think about bananas, carrots, potatoes and cheese.
  • Here's a campfire recipe which I love oh-so-much: (per person) Take one banana. Make an incision, lengthwise, along the inside of the curve. Insert several chocolate chunks. Wrap in foil and stick in the coals for a while. Eat with a spoon. And the slogan: Monkeyfilter: It looked like someone took a crap in my banana, but it tasted heavenly.
  • so what did the gros michel taste like? Anyone old enough to recall? (I won't actually be too unhappy if the cavendish goes belly-up, I find them bland.. my favorite fruit is the mango, which I consider one proof of the existance of god, along with cannabis.)
  • I'm a banana lover, I eat at least two of them a day (hence I bought two MonkeyFilter T-shirts). But the Cavendish is certainly not my favourite. The best bananas I've ever tasted where those of the Canary Islands. Small sweet and with a shelve live of only a day or two. They're only exported to Spain's mainland, unfortunately... Yesterday I was walking on the street wearing one of my MonkeyFilter T-shirts and with a hand of bananas in my hand, unwrapped. A little girl approached me and, pointing at my T-shirt, said: "You have a banana on your T-shirt and bananas in your hand." And then she asked if she could have one, which I couldn't deny.
  • Those are the same dwarf bananas that I had when I was in the Canarys many years ago, mare, in my travelling youth! I loved them. I remember also having a tremendous banana cake pudding from this shop near the hostel, which was among the most delicious puddings I've ever eaten. There was also this unbelievable fish sauce I've been trying to copy for years. God if only I could remember more of that trip, it seems whole swathes of my memory have been erased.
  • Gros Michel seemed slower to ripen. Anyway, it had firmer flesh, with stronger banana flavour/aroma. And they fried beautifully, which used to be my favorite way to eat bananas. Been attributing the inferiority of contempory bananas to shipping conditions -- o so ignorant!
  • We are all ignorant! Let us rejoice in our slowly unveiling wisdom! Partial cloud, wind WSW, 16°C.
  • Those dwarf bananas are the scrumptious.
  • So that funky artificial banana flavor used in candies and whatnot... Just which banana was that based on? How old is the formula, or ideal, for what "banana" is based on? Was it the Gros Michel? The fake flavor always seemed extra strong to me. Has the archetypal fake banana flavor changed over time to adjust for what flavor we associate with bananas?
  • To these 'bananas', we are scrumptious.
  • Yeah, I ran into a bunch of them screamin' banana spiders back when I was a VTOL pilot over 'nam. 'Course that was in my previous incarnation.
  • pffft! You people can't see an obvious tagline if it smacks you in the face with a banana peel. MonkeyFilter: They frequently have wacky bananas Now THAT'S a tagline. The CIA is alleged to have captured great numbers of the spiders, injected LSD into their venom glands and then to have released them along the Ho Chi Minh Trail Sure Chy, I would never doubt you about these spiders. Please, have a drink of water, and sit down in this chair. It's a little chilly in here, put this coat on. Never mind, I'll just buckle the sleeves around in the back. This is a magic jacket--it keeps the spiders off.
  • You have a banana on your T-shirt and bananas in your hand." And then she asked if she could have one, which I couldn't deny. /imagines Mare walking back home, with a bunch of bananas and no shirt on Sorry... must have been bitten by one of those spiders...