I grew up living in the United States and only have lived in the Philippines for a little over 4 years. Out of the 4 plus years, we have only been farming here for 3 years. Because of the tropical climate, we grow produce unique to this area and we are learning along the way.
We currently grow 6 varieties of bananas. When I find a new type, I try to acquire a plant ot two for for our homestead.
All photos taken by me this morning.
As I watched the amazing process of growing bananas from a snail starter plant, one of the things I noticed is the indicators that tell a passerby that there are ripe bananas or there will be.
Most bananas begin to turn yellow, or in the case of the Morado red, when they are ripe. But leading up to this moment there are many other indicators. This is like the yellow or amber traffic light tagat alerts the the driver that a red light is coming soon. These indicators tell a passerby there will be yummy bananas soon.
The banana tree grows very large and there are new leaves added, usually one or two at a time. When there are 13 full leaves, you can watch and soon after this, there will be a bloom. Very red bloom. As the trees grow very tall, sometimes 15 or more feet tall, the flower sheds a few petals that are easily seen on the ground. Either way you can see the alert, bananas are on their way.
If you see the flower petals on the ground, look up, bananas are coming. When the bananas are almost ripe, the very large leaves will die off one by one. When there are only 1 or two leaves left, the harvest is almost ready, then the fruit will begin to change color. Harvest time!
As a “Newby” in growing bananas, there are a few things that were surprising to me.
- Bananas are classified as a berry
- Banana trees only produce one harvest and then you cut it down
- Bananas grow from rhizomes
- You can eat the flower from some varieties
- One harvest from some types produce over 100 bananas.
A few things from Wikipedia
A banana is an edible fruit – botanically a berry[1][2] – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa.[3] In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name Musa sapientum is no longer used.
Banana is the universally accepted name.
The variety of bananas we currently grow are:
Lacatan (photo from ehow.com)
Tun-dan small and white flesh. (Photo from Flickr)
Morado Large red peeled banana. (Photo from pinaymychef.blogspot.com
Cardava Eaten cooked and most common of this region (photo from my farm this morning)
Sab-a Cooked, but smaller and sweeter than the Cardava (Shutterstock photo)
Davao Very long and green peel banana with very yellow meat on the inside. (Photo from inquirer.net)
Recipes
- Turon recipe
Click for the recipe
https://www.kawalingpinoy.com/banana-turon/ Photo from same website.
- Bananaque
Click on the link for a recipe
https://panlasangpinoy.com/2011/01/30/bananacue/ (Photo also from this website)
- Fried banana
Click on the link for the recipe
https://www.instructables.com/id/Fried-bananas-recipe/ (Photo from the same website)
- Boiled
Click on the link for the recipe.
https://www.google.com/search?q=boiled+banana+recipe+pinoy&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=W08YJw05LGRjNM: (Photo from the same website)
- Put in soups. Called Sinigang
Click on link for recipe
https://www.google.com/search?q=recipe+for+sinigang+na+baboy&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=ZmTecsJlVZEu4M: (Photo from same website)
- Some even make a wine and a beer from bananas.
I didn’t research the beer or wine recipes, but I am sure a google search would produce the info for this.
All of these other dishes I have eaten many times. All are delicious.
Recipes for the flower.
Please click on link for the recipe
https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/banana-blossom-guinatan-98969 (Photo from the same website)
Currently we have over 60 mature plants and frequently we enjoy the banana in many ways.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Daddy William
