Bananas how many varieties

The Goldfinger banana has been designed in Central America to be more pest-resilient, cold-resistant, and crop-yielding than the Cavendish variety. Slightly smaller than Cavendish bananas, Barangan bananas are native to countries in Southeast Asia.

With its mildly sweet taste, this banana variety is the most-enjoyed dessert fruit in the tropics. Also known as Musa belle, Manzano, or apple bananas, Pisang Raja bananas feature an exterior yellow to orange color.

It is also widely cultivated in the Philippines, which has Latundan as the cultivar local name. Although also grown in plantations across Central America, Mysore bananas are native to India and Pakistan. Sometimes called red Cavendish bananas, cultivators closely derived red bananas from the Musa acuminata variety.

Softer and sweeter than yellow Cavendish bananas, red bananas have a hint of raspberry in its flavor. Dwarf Jamaican bananas are also red bananas that are smaller in size. This variety boasts a robust flavor, making its long ripening process worth the wait.

To hasten ripening, store them in a paper bag at room temperature. Lady's Finger bananas are smaller and sweeter than the ubiquitous longer, milder Cavendish. They can be used in the same way, but make particularly portion-controlled snacks, especially for kids. Pisang Raja bananas are popular in Indonesia, where they are often used to make banana fritters.

They are also known as Musa Belle bananas. There are many types of red bananas, but they share two key things in common: they look super cool, and they tend to be on the sweeter side of the banana flavor family. Eat them out of hand or add them to dishes, but when they're red, they're ready to eat! Cooking bananas, like plantains , are better thought of as potatoes than as bananas.

They can be roasted, steamed, fried into tasty chips, and otherwise used like any starchy vegetable. They are sold green, and many different types of bananas can be used as "cooking bananas" while they're still green and starchy.

Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Banana plantations were established over 60 years ago by the British.

Although most Windwards bananas are produced under Fairtrade conditions , the volumes are now too low to have the same positive effect on rural communities that they had for the first decade of the 21st century.

In Jamaica, a series of natural disasters put paid to the export industry and farmers now produce for a local processing industry. The Dominican Republic industry has more than doubled in size over the last decade and now employs over 30, people, the majority of whom are migrants from neighbouring Haiti.

Almost all African countries produce a significant amount of bananas and plantains, but only a few actually export fresh dessert bananas. Production in this region has grown rapidly over the past 20 years. The vast majority of these bananas are sold in Europe, mainly in France and the UK. They have recently been joined by a third Kuwaiti company. Virtually all banana workers in Ghana belong to a trade union and collective bargaining agreements are in place in both companies.

In both these countries, the trade unions have relatively weak and divided, but have established coordinating platforms in the biggest companies. The unions do not however yet bargain directly with the banana companies, as wages are determined at the level of the whole agricultural sector.

As a result, the gap between what many workers earn and a living wage is substantial. Until a few years ago, it was still possible to state that banana production and trade was very much dominated by four big multinational banana companies: Chiquita , Del Monte , Dole and Fyffes. They sell their own production and market the production of others under contract, using their well-known brands.

Amongst other factors, the opening up of the EU market has led to them losing substantial market share. Formerly known as the United Fruit Company, Chiquita Brands International was until the s the biggest banana company in the world, controlling about one third of world trade. Despite coming close to bankruptcy in , the company stills holds second place in world sales figures, second only to Dole.

It has had various forays into African production, but currently has no interests there. It is no longer a publicly traded company. The company was one of the founders of the World Banana Forum. The company is less dependent on fresh bananas than its competitors. The company operates banana farms in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil and the Philippines, and purchases or markets bananas from independent growers in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Cameroon and the Philippines.

The acquisition of Costa Rican group Caribana in substantially increased their banana and pineapple production in Latin America. Dole Food was the largest producer of fresh and processed fruit and vegetables in the world, with over products, trading in 90 countries. In total sales value, though, it has fallen behind Del Monte, after it sold its Asia division in to Japanese group Itochu.

It also owns pineapple plantations in Costa Rica and Honduras and sources from independent producers in Costa Rica.

Dole participates actively in the World Banana Forum. Is an Irish-based company that owns the oldest banana brand in the world. The company is involved in the production, procurement, shipping, ripening, distribution and marketing of tropical fruits, mainly bananas, pineapples and melons.

Fyffes has recently bought two plantations in Costa Rica and buys from other national producers there. In , the company was bought by the Japanese corporation Sumitomo , although its headquarters remains in Dublin.

It may be eaten ripe at a deep yellow color or cooked when it is a little less ripe or unripe. The plant grows rather slowly because the white areas of the leaves are unable to photosynthesize and so the leaves are not fully functional. The fruit can be eaten fresh or cooked and makes excellent fried green and smashed bananas.

Produces small to medium bunches of very plump fruit to 4" in diameter, roundish with golden-yellow skin and pinkish yellow-orange flesh. Very sweet flavor. Fruit may be eaten fresh or cooked. Likes filtered sun with ample moisture. World's best cooking banana.

Should be harvested before it ripens on the plant as it will split before it turns color. The 'Haa Haa', one of the same group, grows to feet. A striking plant which bears medium bunches of delicious fruit with orange flesh. This clone occasionally forms only a few, extraordinarily large fruit on the bunch; otherwise, the bunch is normal, but with fruit ranging from small eggs to 20 cm 8 in in length by 6 cm 2.

It is sparingly grown in Malaya, Thailand, Ceylon and Burma. It is thought to have been introduced into Dominice in but the only place where it is of any importance in the New World is Trinidad where it is cultivated as shade for cacao. The plant is large and vigorous, immune to Panama disease and nearly so to Sigatoka; very hardy and drought tolerant. It bears large, compact bunches of medium sized, plump, thin skinned, attractive, bright yellow fruits of subacid flavor.

A lady finger variety it has a tall and multicolored reddish purple trunk, leaf petioles and underside of the leaf make this a beautiful banana. Height 15' to 18'. Plantain fruit are often longer and far more pointed. In these regions they are a major source of dietary carbohydrates. The term "plantain" is also used in other senses.

It can refer to all the banana cultivars which are normally eaten after cooking, rather than raw, for which see cooking plantain, or to members of some other subgroups of Musa cultivars, such as the Pacific plantains. The triploid genome of these bananas, shorthanded AAB, denotes that they are hybrids of Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana in a proportion of roughly two to one. Even though bananas originate from the Asia-Pacific region, the diversity of Plantains is highest in Africa, especially West and Central Africa.

The term plantain is often used ambiguously to refer to all types of cooking bananas or to suggest that plantains are not bananas, as in the expression bananas and plantains. The leaves of dwarf types are also more erect. Plantains requires a warm and humid climate with no major oscillations. Most Plantains exhibit strong apical dominance, which suppresses sucker growth until after bunch emergence.

They then tend to remain small because of competition with each other. The shallow and poorly ramified root system of Plantains also makes them susceptible to 'high mat', the tendency of the plant base to grow out of the soil. Two types were later recognized: False Horn and French Horn.

French plantains are known only in India, Africa, Egypt, and the Americas. French plantains are commonly subdivided into size categories: giant, medium, small. The medium and small French types produce more suckers than the giant French types. Since the height and girth of the pseudostem vary with the environmental conditions, the number of leaves produced from planting to flowering is used to determine the size class: giant more than 40 leaves ; medium between 32 and 38 leaves ; and small less than 30 leaves.

Most of the French Plantains are giant types characterized by large bunches that contain many hands and relatively small fruits. These cultivars have a long vegetative cycle and are susceptible to toppling in windy conditions. French Horn plantains have a high number of neutral flowers, whereas False Horn plantains retains only a few neutral flowers6.

Both types have large fingers, but the bunch of French Horn plantains is dense. The plant size categories are also different. For example, a medium French Horn is taller than a medium False Horn. The slightly curved fruit is large and delicious, comparable to the commercial plantains that we know and adore. Resistant to Panama Disease but not to the corm borer and nematodes.

Height feet. The rachis ends after the last hand. No male bud is produced. The pseudostem and leaves are dappled red. It produces strongly curved and elongated edible bananas which can grow to a length of two feet, making them have the longest fruits among banana cultivars. They produce two to four hands per bunch. Fruits of the ,Rhino Horn, bananas can be eaten raw or cooked. They are also cultivated as ornamental plants for their attractive coloration.

The Pome subgroup genome group AAB comprises cultivars whose fruit have a sub-acid and apple-like taste. They are often referred to as "apple" bananas, thereby confusing them with Silk bananas, which are the more widely recognized apple bananas. Pome cultivars are common in India and Brazil where it is known as Prata. The fruit bunch develops at an angle while the rachis points vertically down.

The fruit apex is often bottle-necked. These plants are sturdy, vigorous, highly productive and can be quite tall. They are the most common home-grown and island-grown commercial. However, because of its susceptibility to wind damage and Panama disease, it should only be planted in wind protected areas and land not previously infested with this disease.

Their susceptibility to Fusarium wilt has led to a decline in their importance. The peel of ripe fruits splits easily. The skin at the upper surface of the pedicel tends to break transversely, so that the fruit falls. Silk cultivars are often confused with those in the Pome subgroup. They differ in having a more slender male bud, narrower and more pointed bracts and more numerous male flowers. There are numerous common cultivars named 'Apple'.

The plant is medium-sized and susceptible to Sigatoka and Panama disease. It is only recommended for home landscape planting in Panama disease-free sites with disease-free planting material.

If left on the bunch until fully developed, the thin skin splits lengthwise and breaks at the stem end causing the fruit to fall, but it is firm and keeps well on hand in the home. It produces exceptionally flavorful fruit with a sub-acid, apple-like taste. The fruit peel splits and the flesh is white when ripe, and is astringent when not. It has declined in importance there and elsewhere due to its pronounced susceptibility to Panama disease.

As the name implies, this variety will produce as many as bananas. This plant only produces female flowers and will continue to produce fruit until the stalk reaches the ground. The fruit is small, with a sweet pleasant flavor. Zones 8B Lessard explains: "The reason for this unusual fruiting characteristic is that the banana flowers in a sequence that is reversed from other bananas.

There are no male flowers produced and the first things to emerge from the opening flower are the hands of hermaphroditic flowers. About three or four hands of these are made and then the plant begins to unfold female flowers with attached ovaries. The flower stem of a well fertilized plant will continue to make female flowers and fruit until the plant dies or the flower bud is broken off. Usually that is the only way to make the bottom fruit size up.

It is possible for the fruit on the top of the head to be ripening while the flower on the bottom of the head is still opening female flowers. If the plant has been fertilized well and supported there is no telling how long the stem of fruit would get.

Eight or nine feet is certainly possible. Because of its unusual flowering characteristic the flowering cycle lasts up to five months and the raceme just keeps getting longer. It quickly produces a medium bunch of sweet, high quality fruit.

Mature height is 8' to 10'. A very popular sturdy plant originating in India and becoming a favorite around the world. Nice and sweet Desert banana. Reaches about 10 feet in height. Lessard writes: "If there ever was a banana that deserved the name "bullet proof' it must be the Raja Puri. It is the best plant to grow in marginal areas or where a grower does not intend to put much care into the cultivation of a banana.

This is a dwarfed plant that grows to seven or eight feet before fruiting. It is totally green having no red coloring at all.

The plant has a very thick stem and stands up very well to the wind. I have never seen one blow over even when carrying large large heads of fruit. The Raja Puri is immune to Panama Disease and is not attacked by nematodes or corm borers. It must have some sort of natural repellent that wards off most pests because I have never seen it bothered even when I knew there were nematodes and corm borers in the vicinity.

Pisang Raja' is a sturdy plant, tolerating cold and wind, growing to 20 ft. It is one of the most delicious bananas and has orange-fleshed, slightly fuzzy fruit that are between 6 to7 inches long.

It is the most productive of the orange-fleshed bananas. These cultivars produce relatively starchy fruit, primarily used for cooking. The plants are drought resistant and generally resist the Sigatoka leaf spot diseases. Bluggoe Subgroup These are vigorous clones. They produce widely spaced, large, angular, straight fruit that have long peduncles; usually, only four to seven hands are produced on a bunch.

The various cultivars are distinguished by stature, bunch size and the fruit skin green, silver, or waxy. They are susceptible to race 2 of Panama disease and Moko disease. This medium tall, sturdy plant, is particularly hardy. The bunch consists of only a few hands of very thick, 3 angled fruits about 6 in long. The flesh has a salmon tint, is firm, edible raw when fully ripe but much better cooked fried, baked or otherwise, as are plantains. The fruit is named for its flavor and texture, sweet and smooth.

When fully ripe, the flesh can be eaten with a spoon. Externally, the fruit is colored a beautiful silver-green, due to a heavy coating of wax.

They are cold tolerant and like tall bananas of the ABB Group, are wind resistant because of their strong pseudostems and root systems. The leaves are silvery green in color. The fruit bunches are small, bearing seven to nine hands. The fruit are 7 to 9 inches in length and exhibit a characteristic silvery blue color when unripe.

The fruit turn a pale yellow when ripe, with white creamy flesh. They bloom around 15 to 24 months after planting and can be harvested after to days. They are known for their fragrant fruit which taste like vanilla custard. The fruit goes well with ice cream. They are also popular as ornamentals and shade plants for their unusual blue coloration, large size, and tolerance to temperate climates.

The pelipita plantain is resistant to black Sigatoka. It is also favored as a commercial plantain variety because it is resistant to Panama disease, also known as banana wilt. Purdue University describes this disease as a plague that has adversely affected banana plantations in Central America, the Canary Islands and Colombia.

This clone tolerates Moko disease, due to its persistent bracts. It is vigorous and tolerates adverse conditions, especially drought, but is susceptible to race 1 of Panama disease. It grows rapidly even in cool areas hardy zones