Home Grown Bananas

Even though we lost our largest crop of bananas during Hurricane Irma, we were able to harvest a small bunch of dwarf red prior to the storm and a decent sized bunch of Saba Bananas was caught up in the falling banana plants and was mature enough to ripen. 

Dwarf Red and Saba Bananas as compared to a Cavendish Chiquita Banana

 Thankfully, even though we will be set back on fruit, we didn't lose any banana plant varieties because bananas are not trees - they grow from a corm and send up "pups" which develop into new plants which will fruit once and then die.

Saba Bananas

 While we lost some fruit and fruit trees during Hurricane Irma, many places lost much more. If you are interested in volunteering or donating to help other rare fruit tree farms, some places to consider are Grimal Grove on Big Pine Key, ECHO in Ft Myers, and Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead.

Dwarf Red Bananas

Ney Mannan Banana - unknown cultivar

These most recently ripened bananas were labeled as Ubok Iba at the US repositories. However, they are not horn plantains as described as being donated from Nigeria. TARS recently put this cultivar in the Ney Mannan subgroup along with Blue Java/Ice Cream bananas. Some differences I noticed between this fruit and the blue java fruit I have tasted is the initial texture of this fruit was much firmer and starchier than blue java upon first turning yellow. However, as each day passed, the fruit became more and more fluffy and lost the starchiness quickly.

The unripe fruit did have a bit of a blue/green/silver skin, but not nearly the vibrant blue that blue java has.

Thankfully, genetic testing is being done at the Tropical Agriculture Research Station in Puerto Rico to help sort out the mislabeled cultivars.

Regardless of the true name of this cultivar, it is a very good banana. One of the downsides is the plant seems to be very susceptible to fungus.

Pros: heavy nectar producer - great for bees and adding to tea, days 3-5 of being yellow, the fruit has a wonderful, rich banana flavor. Good out of hand, dried, cooked

Cons: susceptible to fungus, difficult to peel the more ripe it becomes

Click on photo to see all pictures of this banana in album

FHIA-03 Bananas - Sweetheart

I have often said that Sweetheart is one of my favorite bananas to grow here in Sarasota, FL. While it isn't the best tasting of all bananas - it is dependable, wind tolerant, versatile, and not susceptible to fungus. 

Sweetheart was developed by the Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola in Honduras as a possible replacement for Cavendish - the banana most commonly found in supermarkets. The flavor is quite similar to cavendish, however, it has a slightly more complex, apple flavor and the center texture is a bit creamier.

We planted a tissue cultured FHIA-03 in May of 2014. Since that time, we have had two very large racemes (bunches) of bananas with the original plant producing 5 pups during that 18 month period. 

The plants are strong and provide reliable bunches of good fruit. I do recommend only cutting off hands as they ripen, because once cut from the plant, the entire bunch will ripen within days. However, when left attached to the plant, you can spread the harvest over about 2 weeks.

Sweetheart is great cooked, used in baking, dried, or eaten out of hand when yellow. It should be eaten before then skin gets black splotches as the texture suffers when over ripe. 

Click on photo to scroll through pictures. 

Growing Bananas

We are now growing over 65 varieties of bananas - just a small portion of the approx. 1000 edible varieties grown throughout the world. The banana plant is an herb - not a tree. The bananas grown for edible fruit do not require any pollination. In fact, many do not have viable pollen.

Bananas are the perfect plant for those living in warm climates that want quick, reliable fruit.

The banana is a very versatile plant - the fiber can be used to make baskets, hats, paper and more. The leaves can be used to wrap food in before cooking over a fire or as plates.

Tilapia with fresh heart of palm cooked inside a banana leaf over a fire.

The fruit can be used in soups, savory dishes, sweet deserts, or eaten raw.

Frozen bananas

Fried bananas

Angelica enjoying a maqueno banana at our home in Ecuador

The nectar of banana flowers is very sweet - our honeybees enjoy it.

We are still waiting to taste the fruit of many varieties that we grow. I will be sure to post about each new variety as it fruits for us.

Ney Mannan Bananas

While bananas are easy to grow, they also are susceptible to fungi, viruses, borers, and more. As we grow our bananas, we have seen which ones are resistant to these maladies.

Gipungusi Plantains

What's growing in January

We have had our largest crop of miracle fruit this year. Our plant keeps producing more and more fruit each day. Having one miracle fruit before breakfast is such a treat. Everything tastes sweet without added sugar. 

January has again proved to be a month full of bananas. It seems like most every variety that has been in the ground a year or more is fruiting....everything except the Saba, which keeps growing taller and wider. 

Our honeybees love the banana flowers! Below are some pictures of our bees on dwarf orinoco flowers. Dwarf Orinocos are wonderful cooked as chifles (fried, thinly sliced plantains), sweet plantains (fried when ripe and yellow), or eaten out of hand. They are a favorite of our blue headed pionus parrot. 

Choco Bananas -Namwah Bananas

One of our favorite varieties of bananas are Namwah bananas. These plants produce very quickly. The bunches contain a great number of small bananas. You can cut off a hand at a time and allow it to ripen inside to avoid having too many ripe all at once.

However, should you have too many ripen at the same time, chocolate covered, frozen bananas are a great treat to make with the excess.

Choco Bananas

Simply peel the bananas and insert a popsicle stick or chopstick into one end - pushing it almost all the way through. In a double boiler, heat chocolate chips or melting chocolate wafers, stirring often. Dip the bananas into the chocolate and use a spoon if necessary to completely cover the banana with chocolate. You can cover with chopped peanuts or sprinkles. Place covered bananas on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Once the cookie sheet is full, place in the freezer. After 8 hours, you can place the frozen bananas into a bag.

Volquetero Recipe

This dish is common in Puyo Ecuador. Volquetero is literally translated as Dumptrucker. Essentially, it is a plate full of Ecuadorian bus/street food. It is a fun recipe that uses plantains. 

Plantain - sliced and fried in oil 

Chochos (Lupine beans - available in latino/italian grocery sections in glass jar) 

Chulpe (popped Maize Chulpe - available at latino markets)

Tomato - 1/2 chopped

Red Onion - 2 T

Lemon - juice from one small

Cilantro - 1 T fresh

Tuna - 1 can

Salt

Oil

1. Chop or finely slice onion and soak in water with 1tsp salt. 
2. Chop tomato and cucumber if desired.
3. Strain onion and combine with tomato, cucumber, and cilantro in a bowl and squeeze lemon over all. 
4. Heat 2 T oil in pan, add corn, place lid and shake over medium heat until kernels pop. The corn will appear larger, but not like the popcorn we are accustomed to as this corn pops inside. Strain on paper towel and lightly salt
5. Thinly slice plantains. Heat oil deep enough to cover plantain slices. Once oil is 350 degrees, add plantain slices and fry until lightly brown. Remove with wire spoon and strain on paper towel and lightly salt. 
6. Remove skins from Lupine beans by pinching. Rinse beans.
7. Drain can of tuna
8. Assemble the dish with plantain chips, corn, and beans topped with tuna and topped again with tomato, onion, cucumber. Add more lemon juice/salt if desired. 

Enjoy with a glass of passion fruit juice!

18 Months Later...

Before we moved into our home, we planted a fruit tree....We knew we wanted to have a yard filled with edible landscaping. Some trees will take a few years to produce fruit, while others, are very quick to produce a bounty of delicious delicacies. 

This was the fence with our passion vine 18 months ago when we first planted it...notice the small amount of leaves on the top of the left side of the fence. Our banana plants had just been planted for a few months. 

This is 12 months later...we were beginning to receive several passion fruits each day that ripened and dropped to the ground. So far this year, this plant has produced hundreds of fruit.

And the bananas.....

Oh, the bananas!!!

 Our bananas have received water from a drip system along with a thick layer of mulch, ash from burning fallen limbs, and a covering of banana peels and cut banana leaves. The cultivars we currently grow are namwah, apple, raja puri, giant plantain, orinoco, saba, dwarf cavendish, and the most delicious mystery banana. The namwah banana has been the most prolific, sending up over 20 new plants and producing two huge bunches of bananas. All of our varieties have produced large bunches of fruit this year except for the Saba which was planted a few months ago.

We have small plants available from all of the varieties listed.