Bananas Don’t Taste Like They Used To. Here’s Why.

July 18, 2024 9:20 AM

The breads, puddings, and tarts of your grandparents’ generation were made with a completely different banana. Brandon Summers-Miller at epicurious. (archive.org link)
posted by bq (42 comments total)

If you want a picture of the future, imagine every new Net generation (that is, five years or so) rediscovering the legend of the Gros Michel — forever.
posted by meehawl at 9:24 AM on July 18 [56 favorites]

But it's only today that I've discovered that banana tarts exist.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:31 AM on July 18 [3 favorites]

I remember the big hanging bunches of bananas in Richard Scarry books and wondering why I'd never seen bananas hanging like that.
posted by rikschell at 9:32 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

I only like them when they are just getting over being gree. Once they are sweet, me no likey. Plus that mushy texture. Love banana bread.
posted by Czjewel at 9:37 AM on July 18

I've known about the Gros Michel and it's likely association with the 20's song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" for a long time, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I learned it was the basis for that weird artificial banana flavor (which I've always hated).
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:45 AM on July 18 [5 favorites]

In case you're curious, you can buy Gros Michele bananas for $17 a banana!
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:48 AM on July 18 [6 favorites]

OMG, Greg_Ace that makes *so* much sense. My mother sings bits of that song all the time, and now I understand it so much better.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:58 AM on July 18

Oh these are what we would call typical bananas, the Gros Michel ones. Still abundant around these parts of Southeast Asia (though you can find the Cavendish ones in fancy supermarkets and uh, Starbucks). In Malaysia you can find them as berangan bananas (have no idea what is a latundan, per the claim in the article - sounds like if it is a typical and popular choice, it's so in the Philippines. I think I have seen something like them in the markets). It might be related to how typical certain cultivars are but it seems like the starchier ones are unusual or unpopular enough that eating it as a main carb (like in East Africa) or in a savoury way is not really thought of.

I do miss bananas when I'm in the West. Cavendish is too much for a meal and too mealy compared to what I'm familiar with. (Kinda like how I thought I hated apples because all I had was those mass-produced Red Delicious)
posted by cendawanita at 10:04 AM on July 18 [15 favorites]

I started with my favorite banana dish, comparing two batches of bananas Foster side by side.

I like the way this guy thinks!

He keeps mentioning the candy-like flavor of the Gros Michel, which makes me wonder if what I normally think of as artificial-tasting banana flavor is actually closer to what bananas used to taste like.

I also like the way he gets in some digs at United Fruit Company.
posted by TedW at 10:14 AM on July 18 [1 favorite]

big hanging bunches of bananas in Richard Scarry books

That made me smile. Oh it seemed such a busy busy world back when I was reading those books as a child....
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:30 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

I felt the same way when a coworker gave me a mango from India. Every mango I had eaten till then, and since, had been a lie.

Same with tomatoes from Poland.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:34 AM on July 18 [6 favorites]

I'd add Maine blueberries and Scottish (Fife, Angus, Perthshire) strawberries to the "all other varieties seem like a like" list.
posted by tmacdonald at 11:06 AM on July 18 [3 favorites]

If you want a picture of the future, imagine every new Net generation (that is, five years or so) rediscovering the legend of the Gros Michel — forever.

...and Kopi Luwak coffee, too. I have seen the Internet "discover" kopi luwak no less than four times.
posted by briank at 11:22 AM on July 18 [3 favorites]

I felt the same way when a coworker gave me a mango from India. Every mango I had eaten till then, and since, had been a lie.

Same with tomatoes from Poland.

I'd add Maine blueberries and Scottish (Fife, Angus, Perthshire) strawberries to the "all other varieties seem like a like" list.

Not the same thing, but until I moved to Oregon and had marionberries for the first time, I definitely didn't understand what blackberries were supposed to be attempting.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:24 AM on July 18 [4 favorites]

The single thing I miss from when I lived in the southeastern US is exquisitely ripe and juicy Georgia peaches.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:31 AM on July 18 [6 favorites]

Strangely, the way I learned about Gros Michel bananas was from a well-written Captain America fanfic where Steve and Bucky compared their gripes about how certain things they miss from their Depression-era childhoods were no longer available in the present.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:32 AM on July 18 [13 favorites]

Balatro was how I learned about the Gros Michel.
posted by terretu at 11:54 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

In case you're curious, you can buy Gros Michele bananas for $17 a banana!

I would do that. Once.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:32 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]

I quizzed my parents about Gros Michel, were bananas different, back in the day, and they hadn't noticed any change. I'm just glad the stores are still stocked with the Cavendish, since we've been told for years, decades even that they'd soon be gone because of various blights. For example, the BBC in 2016: The imminent death of the Cavendish banana and why it affects us all.

Every mango I had eaten till then, and since, had been a lie.

Mirrors my own experience with this fruit, back when I thought they were only those horrible red-green-yellow Tommy Atkins, the Red Delicious of the mango world.
posted by Rash at 12:48 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]

My grandmother's family owned a high-class fruit shop in Glasgow (Anton's, of Great Western Road) in the early part of the 20th century. In her final years she was very confused, but the sight of a banana would set her off on a “they used to be different you know: huge things, bright yellow ... We also carried tiny Canary bananas …”-style reminiscence.
posted by scruss at 1:43 PM on July 18 [7 favorites]

Same with tomatoes from Poland.

Same with red deliciouses from our back garden growing up in Tasmania, which taste entirely different when you pick them straight from the tree on a cold morning. (I've had supermarket ones too, and am convinced that they're like those fake foods they display outside restaurants in Japan, not something you're meant to actually eat.)
posted by rory at 1:47 PM on July 18 [3 favorites]

He keeps mentioning the candy-like flavor of the Gros Michel, which makes me wonder if what I normally think of as artificial-tasting banana flavor is actually closer to what bananas used to taste like.

*cough* first comment of the thread

Also, Bowen mangoes from the NSW-Queensland border forever.
posted by rory at 1:49 PM on July 18

Same with red deliciouses from our back garden growing up in Tasmania, which taste entirely different when you pick them straight from the tree on a cold morning

I tried a Red Delicious straight from the tree at a U-Pick orchard here in the Midwest, and it was amazing. What they have wrought in the interests of shipping is so sad.
posted by PussKillian at 2:00 PM on July 18 [4 favorites]

How the US Stole Central America (With Bananas)
Banana Wars: When US Marines Fight For Big Fruit
posted by kirkaracha at 2:54 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]

> "Strangely, the way I learned about Gros Michel bananas was from a well-written Captain America fanfic..."

I understood that reference!
posted by kyrademon at 3:05 PM on July 18 [7 favorites]

I felt the same way when a coworker gave me a mango from India. Every mango I had eaten till then, and since, had been a lie.

Hari Kondabolu has a great bit in his standup about how everyone in India has a story about the best mango they’ve ever eaten. At the time I found it hilariously relatable, and then I had a truly great mango and was like, oh, he wasn’t even joking so much as making an observation, this mango has CHANGED my LIFE
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:30 PM on July 18 [3 favorites]

So, here's the thing: if you live in a medium-large US city, it's likely you can find close to half a dozen different bananas if you go looking. In Chicago, I've bought thai/pisang awak (probably), saba/burro, lady finger (probably), manzano, and red bananas. That's in addition to cavendish, and excluding banana relatives (plantains). Other bananas are out there!
posted by pullayup at 3:35 PM on July 18 [1 favorite]

you can even get banana paper [wiki]
posted by HearHere at 3:37 PM on July 18

It was the Gros Michel’s flavor that was supposedly in mind when chemists developed artificial banana flavoring, which may explain why artificial banana flavor doesn’t taste much like the yellow bananas we eat today.

Many years ago when I first ate a handful of teeny-tiny woodland strawberries growing wild in a client's garden, I was shocked by how powerfully artificial strawberry they tasted- but you know, much more complex and rich. It makes me wonder about whatever variety of green apple "green apple" flavoring must have been based on, especially since apples are one of the fruits whose flavor is being clearly altered by climate change.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:04 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]

the way I learned about Gros Michel bananas was from a well-written Captain America fanfic where Steve and Bucky compared their gripes about how certain things they miss from their Depression-era childhoods

I don't suppose you could provide a link?

Here's a completely different well-written Captain America fanfic where he complains about the loss of the Gros Michel. It's a trope!
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:30 PM on July 18

I currently have an entire bunch of bananas hanging on my veranda waiting to ripen, so this has been a very timely article. I have no idea what variety mine are but they are shorter than a Cavendish, fat, and very very sweet, so perhaps they may be a Gros Michel! They are so sweet that when I make my mothers banana cake recipe (best one I've ever found - so moist!) that I need to reduce the sugar by at least half. I prefer my bananas juuuuust ripe, but unfortunately these tend to ripen fairly fast so I'm clearing my freezer in preparation for bananageddon. Hopefully the winter temperatures will slow that down a little. I live nearly at the very limit in Australia for where bananas will comfortably grow and produce fruit but being able just go out to my back yard and pick a bunch like this blows me away a little bit. I would like to plant a Blue Java - it's supposed to be slightly more cold resistant, and is reputed to taste rather a lot like vanilla ice cream.
posted by ninazer0 at 5:34 PM on July 18 [3 favorites]

but unfortunately these tend to ripen fairly fast so I'm clearing my freezer in preparation for bananageddon

A very popular way to use them up is making cekodok/jemput-jemput (what we call them here, but basically like extremely banana-y cake pops) here. Just mash them up with a bit of flour (for binding only) and salt to taste and some sugar (for the caramelization) and pop them in the fryer. Yum yum.
posted by cendawanita at 8:17 PM on July 18 [6 favorites]

a Blue Java - it's supposed to be slightly more cold resistant, and is reputed to taste rather a lot like vanilla ice cream.

I have heard that also, about an avocado variety called the Julia, but I've never had one. OTOH perfectly ripe white peaches taste creamy, to me.
posted by Rash at 10:47 PM on July 18 [1 favorite]

making cekodok/jemput-jemput (what we call them here, but basically like extremely banana-y cake pops) here. Just mash them up with a bit of flour (for binding only) and salt to taste and some sugar (for the caramelization) and pop them in the fryer. Yum yum.
posted by cendawanita

Thanks for the tip! That sounds tasty.

We still have Gros Michel growing in New Orleans. Just not commercially. When the bunches in your yard ripen, they ripen, and you can't freeze that much fruit.

Here s a relevant Emmymade taste testing video, for Gros Michel.
posted by eustatic at 7:26 AM on July 19 [4 favorites]

> In Malaysia you can find them as berangan bananas

Suddenly, a childhood memory of being ambivalent about bananas in general but really loving the squat little ones from family visits has a name, thank you.

> bananageddon

To ward off bananabread fatigue, I discovered recently that if you cook banana down slowly, stirring constantly until the water boils off and it begins to pass through the candy stages, it becomes a distinctly purple and seemingly shelf stable jam.
posted by lucidium at 6:04 PM on July 19 [5 favorites]

who-oa black betty
banana jam
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:25 PM on July 19 [5 favorites]

Suddenly, a childhood memory of being ambivalent about bananas in general but really loving the squat little ones from family visits has a name, thank you.

Oh! mind you, if these family visits are meant to bring you treats then locals typically prefer not berangan but pisang mas (which looks like how you describe). They're sooooo good.
posted by cendawanita at 7:44 PM on July 19 [1 favorite]

Artificial banana flavor is isoamyl acetate, and the Gros Michel has a much higher natural concentration of isoamyl acetate than the Cavendish. That’s why the Gros Michel tastes much closer to “banana flavor” than the Cavendish.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 8:11 PM on July 19 [1 favorite]

I made isoamyl acetate in sophomore organic chem. Not pleasant memories.
posted by kathrynm at 9:31 PM on July 19 [3 favorites]

Bananageddon at my house can weigh 190 pounds or so,

I have just been mixing blender bananas with almond butter until it forms something like a shelf stable-ish smoothie paste, which can be consumed relatively quickly
posted by eustatic at 2:31 PM on July 20

I made isoamyl acetate in sophomore organic chem. Not pleasant memories.

Me, too! Although it was far from the most objectionable thing we made.
posted by TedW at 6:42 AM on July 21 [1 favorite]

I made isoamyl acetate in sophomore organic chem. Not pleasant memories.

Oh boy did that bring back a memory that I was happy forgetting. Euughhhh!
posted by ninazer0 at 3:32 AM on July 22