Bananas: Types, Storage, Ripening/Stages of Ripeness, Preferences

[Adam Balic]

Just to add, I dont remember seeing enything in this article about the research facility in belgium who has been doing quite a bit of research themselves (mainly through genetic modification and test tube growth) have significantly supported african banana populations.

But still, from what I have read about the goldfinger is it isn't creamy like the gro michel or cavendish, so it may not be as popular as these people hope it to be.

←

You can get them here in Australia. Less creamy and a different flavour. Still banana, but not nearly as strong and a little more acid tasting.

[chiantiglace]

Have any pictures adam? crossection?

[v. gautam]

Some corporate interests will be hurt and some assumptions about what "bananas" should taste like MIGHT, not will, slight modifications. Just as if Americans had to adapt to the older European types of apples: a range of textures, aromas, appearances not unfamiliar to our immigrant ancestors.

India is a major center of diversity for "dessert" bananas. It was a single Indian plantain, Calcutta-4, that provided the genes for resistance to a pernicious disease affecting the staple plantain crop in a significant area of Africa. Perhaps finally, people like us who have wasted a lifetime begging that research be conducted on the banana cultivar "Kanthali" tentatively assigned to the Pisang Awak group stand a chance of being heard. There is already a funded program called PROMUSA, but without the right connections and the right mixture of chicanery, nothing happens. Therefore our pleas for a coordinated research on the cultivar Kanthali, and the seeded ultravigorous relative, rather than clever grants for our own benefit, go nowhere!!

We hear there is to be a USDA program to map intensively the cocoa genome. There is a crucially important sugar palm, the sugar date, Phoenix sylvestris, nearly genetically identical with the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, whose genome is being mapped. For an extr $350,000, budget dust, the genome of this vitapam coul be mapped alongside the date's .

There are many reasons for this. Not only will it improve the date genome's efficacy and help resolve fundamental questions in plant physiology, thi sugar pam is vita iffood prodction isto be increased in a water-short world. It is not a new crop, but rather a very old one, pre-dating sugar cane in India [the land which gave the world the word for "sugar" and "candy" , and home to the first refined sugar from palms, then cane.]

The UN is prepared to spend $30 bn in cropping systems that hae createdthe disorted growth patterns now in plae. Unlessthe cropping stem ae judicious modfied, an crops produced with greater effciencies the problems wil not go away. The problem today are not of yields but of productivities. Then again, the matter of efficiencies run into profound social and philosophical choices, even the matter of choosing between 2 types of biological efficiencies.

[pactourvet]

That banana plantation near Santa Barbara was only a few acres.

Hardlly a drop in the banana ocean.

They lost their lease because they couldn't pay the rent.

You can still buy some of their bananas at a farmers market in Carpenteria.

They were able to move some plants onto someone elses property.

Edited June 27, 2008 by pactourvet (log)

[Shel_B]

I have some bananas that are close to the point of ripeness for use in banana bread.  I'd like to make the bread in two days.  I need the bananas to be very ripe - they have plenty of brown spots on them now, and I want them even riper.  How can I speed up the ripening process?

[Plantes Vertes]

Put them in a warm place, in a paper bag, with an apple. Both the bananas themselves and the apple give off ethylene, which promotes ripening apparently, and that is trapped and concentrated in the paper bag.

[Anna N]

I have some bananas that are close to the point of ripeness for use in banana bread.  I'd like to make the bread in two days.  I need the bananas to be very ripe - they have plenty of brown spots on them now, and I want them even riper.  How can I speed up the ripening process?

Put them in the oven

http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-quickly-ripen-bananas-in-the-oven-for-lastminute-banana-bread-putting-tips-to-the-test-in-the-kitchn-201764

[lesliec]

I advise caution - if they're already spotty and your baking day is still two days away, accelerating their natural ripening may get you beyond the point you want.

[Shel_B]

Put them in the oven

http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-quickly-ripen-bananas-in-the-oven-for-lastminute-banana-bread-putting-tips-to-the-test-in-the-kitchn-201764

 

I won't try that this time.  I need the bananas to attain a very ripe state, not just soft and mushy, which is the only description of the bananas I could find.

[pbear]

I'd recommend a hybrid approach.  Start with the paper bag - apple not necessary IMHO, as bananas are themselves very high in ethylene - then look to the oven method as a backup if they haven't ripened quite enough by baking day.

[Mjx]

If you want them super-gross and mushy, yeh, into a plastic bag with an apple and seal, but seriously, Shel, they're bananas, not bricks, you can mash them up even if they're green, and they still taste of banana.

[Shel_B]

[...] but seriously, Shel, they're bananas, not bricks, you can mash them up even if they're green, and they still taste of banana.

 

I'm experimenting with a new recipe, and want the bananas to be very ripe and high in sugar.

[Shel_B]

I advise caution - if they're already spotty and your baking day is still two days away, accelerating their natural ripening may get you beyond the point you want.

 

I'll be watching them ... thanks for the cautionary words.

[Shel_B]

Excerpt from an article I read about ripening bananas:

 

One theory, holds that freezing or roasting underripe bananas in their skins will quickly render them

sweet and soft enough for baking. While these methods do turn the bananas black—giving them the

appearance of their super-sweet, overripe brethren—they actually do little to encourage the necessary

conversion of starch to sugar.

 

What I want are bananas that are quite sweet and very ripe.  Based on the article I read, the oven method of "ripening" bananas wont give the required results.

[Simon Lewinson]

Shel, I agree. Enzymes, ethylene and oil' Father Time are your allies in this quest. I assume thatbyoumare after whatbincsll a "drinking banana", one that has almost liquified, has an intensely sweet banana flavour and is the best for baking things like banana bread. I have found that they are at their sweetest when almost totally black and need to be picked up with extreme care lest they break in half under their own weight.

My preferred method is to leave them in a bowl on the counter top covered loosely by cling wrap. This keeps in most of the ethylene and allowsw you to monitor the ripening without excess handling.

Simon

[cakewalk]

Sounds like you already have ripe bananas. You're working towards overripe and even rotten bananas. But maybe that's what you want.

[Shel_B]

Sounds like you already have ripe bananas.

 

Yes

 

 

You're working towards overripe and even rotten bananas. But maybe that's what you want.

 

No, I want very ripe bananas, not over ripe or rotten bananas, that have a certain amount of sugar in them and from which I can easily extract moisture.  There's a fine line between very ripe and over ripe, and I want to get close to that line without crossing it.

[Shel_B]

Shel, I agree. Enzymes, ethylene and oil' Father Time are your allies in this quest. I assume thatbyoumare after whatbincsll a "drinking banana", one that has almost liquified, has an intensely sweet banana flavour and is the best for baking things like banana bread. I have found that they are at their sweetest when almost totally black and need to be picked up with extreme care lest they break in half under their own weight.

My preferred method is to leave them in a bowl on the counter top covered loosely by cling wrap. This keeps in most of the ethylene and allowsw you to monitor the ripening without excess handling.

Simon

 

Not quite liquefied, but which, as you say, has an intensely sweet banana flavor. I want 'em just a bit before they are frangible, and when mashed and added to the batter can retain small pieces that have a very slight bite to them - a bit past al dente but not quite mushy.  Hard to describe, but I'll know when I've got it.  I suspect you know what I'm talking about.

 

In the bowl is nice, but it's easy enough to open the bag and look in.

[liuzhou]

I spend most of my time trying to slow down the ripening so, once again, I have nothing to offer in the way of sensible suggestions other than "move to the tropics. 

[Simon Lewinson]

In the bowl is nice, but it's easy enough to open the bag and look in.

The only issue with opening the bag is losing the ethylene gas that has accumulated as it is lighter than air. This will lengthen the ripening time.

Simon

[Shel_B]

The only issue with opening the bag is losing the ethylene gas that has accumulated as it is lighter than air. This will lengthen the ripening time.

Simon

 

Thanks!  Never thought about that.  Does releasing the gas have any effect on the flavor of the ripened bananas?

[jmacnaughtan]

If you're making banana bread, then it's not really going to make a difference if you're a couple of days over or under.  Unless you have an extremely good palate, there's no way you'll be able to tell the difference between very ripe, slightly over and slightly under banana once it's baked.  If you want to increase the banana flavor, you might want to add a little banana liqueur, or make a banana soak for when it comes out of the oven.

 

Also, I recommend puréeing the bananas and passing them through a seive.  It's easier to incorporate into the batter, and you won't get any of those ugly black "worms" you often get in banana bread.

[weinoo]

I would actually do experiments with multiple bags and bowls of bananas to find exactly what you're looking for.  After all, it's a quite affordable product, and this way you can scientifically and empirically decide what works best!

 

Me? I just let bananas sit on the counter; when they're past the point of what I like to eat out of hand, I either peel and freeze them for smoothies, or make a loaf of banana bread.  Of course, my wife and I enjoy bananas out of hand at different stages of ripeness, so it becomes a bit of a challenge sometimes to make her happy.  She prefers less sweet and soft as her perfect ripeness level.

[weinoo]

It's easier to incorporate into the batter, and you won't get any of those ugly black "worms" you often get in banana bread.

I have never pureed my bananas, just mashed, and I have never seen any worms in my banana bread either.

[Shel_B]

 If you want to increase the banana flavor, you might want to add a little banana liqueur, or make a banana soak for when it comes out of the oven.

 

 

That's the plan - doing something like that to increase the banana flavor, but by extracting some liquid from the bananas and concentrating its flavor.