3 ms·

Did this banana have seeds!? I've never seen one, but it looks awful. They were actually good?

mech422 6mo ago
I never had one, but apperently they tasted much better then the current variety (which IIRC, is in danger of suffering the same fate) IIRC, there was actually a huge marketing push because people wouldn't each the current variety ? PS - the old one didn't go 100% extinct, and you can get small numbers of them from specialty growers. Youtube has videos of people trying them (1) 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI
advisedwang 6mo ago
No, it didn't have seeds either. Have you ever had "banana flavor" candy that doesn't really taste like bananas? The flavoring is Isoamyl acetate, and I've heard suggestion that people called it banana flavor because it tasted more like Gros Michel. After switching to Cavendish banana the flavor name no longer made as much sense. Not sure how true it is though.
- advisedwang 6mo ago
  Someone in the thread linked to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI, where Hank Green tells this same story... and tries a Gros Michel banana and says it doesn't taste like "banana flavor"
  - tomrod 6mo ago
    I had them. They are wonderful, and even creamy. I still love tiny red bananas though, they are so sweet!
- fuzzfactor 6mo ago
  Very true. The bananas I had as a child back in 1960 had the strong flavor of isoamyl acetate along with the natural bouquet of related flavors in lesser amounts. I hated it. The space-age banana popsicles were even worse because they were nothing but isoamyl acetate.
xenadu02 6mo ago
Most edible bananas are seedless and most cultivars (human grown) bananas are genetic mutants with triploid chromosomes (though a few are tetrapolid or diploid). Getting them to produce functional reproductive structures at all let alone viable seeds is very difficult. There are ongoing efforts to cross-breed with their wild cousins and to preserve genetic diversity.
calebh 6mo ago
You can buy a Gros Michel banana from Miami Fruit, although they are quite expensive (almost $40 for a single banana). There are reviews of the banana on YouTube as well - I highly recommend the Weird Explorer channel if you want video reviews of all sorts of strange fruit.

I never had one, but apperently they tasted much better then the current variety (which IIRC, is in danger of suffering the same fate) IIRC, there was actually a huge marketing push because people wouldn't each the current variety ? PS - the old one didn't go 100% extinct, and you can get small numbers of them from specialty growers. Youtube has videos of people trying them (1) 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI

advisedwang 6mo ago

No, it didn't have seeds either. Have you ever had "banana flavor" candy that doesn't really taste like bananas? The flavoring is Isoamyl acetate, and I've heard suggestion that people called it banana flavor because it tasted more like Gros Michel. After switching to Cavendish banana the flavor name no longer made as much sense. Not sure how true it is though.

advisedwang 6mo ago
Someone in the thread linked to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ZtvpBoXzI, where Hank Green tells this same story... and tries a Gros Michel banana and says it doesn't taste like "banana flavor"
- tomrod 6mo ago
  I had them. They are wonderful, and even creamy. I still love tiny red bananas though, they are so sweet!
fuzzfactor 6mo ago
Very true. The bananas I had as a child back in 1960 had the strong flavor of isoamyl acetate along with the natural bouquet of related flavors in lesser amounts. I hated it. The space-age banana popsicles were even worse because they were nothing but isoamyl acetate.

xenadu02 6mo ago

Most edible bananas are seedless and most cultivars (human grown) bananas are genetic mutants with triploid chromosomes (though a few are tetrapolid or diploid). Getting them to produce functional reproductive structures at all let alone viable seeds is very difficult. There are ongoing efforts to cross-breed with their wild cousins and to preserve genetic diversity.

calebh 6mo ago

You can buy a Gros Michel banana from Miami Fruit, although they are quite expensive (almost $40 for a single banana). There are reviews of the banana on YouTube as well - I highly recommend the Weird Explorer channel if you want video reviews of all sorts of strange fruit.