randombananafan

Hurricane Isaac led me here. No, really!

I live in New Orleans, and as some of you probably know, we recently had a big hurricane come through. It blew down a bunch of stuff around here. Some of what it blew down were the uncultivated banana trees across the street in someone's deserted yard.

I live in the Lower Ninth Ward, so deserted yards are pretty common around here.

Well after the storm the lights were out forever and we were all pretty bored. My upstairs neighbors went over to chop themselves off a bunch of green bananas from the fallen tree, since they figured it was a shame to let them go to waste. A day later I figured that was a good idea and got one of the other ones. They hadn't been nearly ripe yet and stayed green a long time, mostly they are still green. I've had a hard time getting them to ripen.

We took some funny pictures though, and I made a video while lip-synching to the banana boat song.

Anyway - upon getting at least one of them ripe by setting it on the counter in full sun for days, I ventured to eat it. It tasted... rather banana-y. They are smaller than store-bought bananas though, the peels are thicker, much thicker, and they have seeds in the middle! A row of seeds, right down the center. They seemed edible but I just picked them out as they were a little crunchy, plus I was intrigued by the thought of growing my own banana trees at some point. I guess most people here just grow them for their looks.

When I was young I had been told - obviously erroneously - that no more banana seeds existed, they had all been bred out, and all banana trees grew from cuttings. So now, as I have found out that this is totally wrong, I am curious. I also have recently found out from history class that the banana comes from Africa and isn't native to the Americas at all. Apparently I have a lot to learn about my favorite fruit!

Jose263

Random welcome to the forum -Hope you faired ok in Isaac. This is a great place to learn about nanas from the experts (not me).
Actually, the more desirable (edible) nanas don't have seeds and reproduce by generating babies from the root - your neighbor's nana pad is interesting - did you take pics of the nanas that you can share? someone here may be able to tell more about the fruit and variety.

__________________
Growing: Orinoco, Rajapuri, Dwarf Cav, SDC, TT, Dwarf Red, Dwarf Namwah, Tall Namwah (aka Ice Cream), Dwarf Brazilian, Veinte Cohol, California Gold, Double Mohai, NOT-Goldfinger, Gran Nain, Velutina

Abnshrek

Hello, Welcome, and Glad you found us. :^)

__________________


I'm a Nannerhead :^)

randombananafan

I do have some pictures, and I could take some more! Just browsing through here, I had no ideas there were so many types...

randombananafan

Ok hope I did this right...

These are, in order: my neighbor with the bananas, the tree left standing with bananas on it, and the trees that fell over so you can see the leaves on it.

Dalmatiansoap

Seem Orinoco to me. About seeded one, U can save some seeds and sell/trade them, just give them away maybe, it probably a Balbisiana sport.

__________________
https://abnb.me/AXJty518xib

randombananafan

Hmm, looking at pics I think the Orinoco looks a lot more likely... fascinating!
It says they are good fried or boiled when green. I have two shopping bags full of them. Now I need recipes

caliboy1994

Welcome! Orinoco bananas make really good tostones.

__________________
"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."
~ Masanobu Fukuoka

Find me on linktree here as Solarpunk Farmer:
https://linktr.ee/solarpunkfarmer

randombananafan

I was looking at that recipe, I think we will try it! I had made them one time before, a long time back but they didn't come out as well but now I see I didn't do it quite right!

Snookie

Welcome Neighbor

I'm just North of you near Hammond, in Lizard Creek:}

Yea buddy I just got into nanna's a few month's ago so.......

Take what I say with a grain of salt lol

But here's a few pics of mine...Enjoy

Snookie

__________________
Mayor of Lizard Creek

flaflowerfloozie

Sorry about the hurricane..I can relate lost 2 homes to the rascals
first in hurricane Andrew and then again in Hurricane Wilma, my next move is out of FLA see if I fair better with tornados or earthquakes...LOL
I'm not doing snow so it can't be that far North...LOL

Hope your doing OK :-)

__________________
I wanna buy your seeds...maybe??