# Where can I buy alternative breeds of bananas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532 "2013-12-17T05:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/1 "2013-12-17T05:45:26Z")
Reading this article > **[Kiss Your Bananas Buh-Bye](https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/kiss-your-bananas-buh-bye-163342332.html)** > > A fungus devastating banana crops in Africa and the Middle East could wipe out global supplies if it reaches Latin America. made me realize I haven’t really tried any bananas other than the cavendish. When I go to the grocery stores that is usually the only variety they have. If they have any others, they may have green plantains and lady finger bananas. I don’t want to eat the plantains since those require cooking, but I haven’t tried the lady fingers. So if there are dozens of varieties of bananas, where would I go if I want to try them out? What kind of store would have that kind of variety? An upscale grocer, a hippy/alternative grocer, or something else? I don’t know if a farmer’s market would have anything since most bananas aren’t grown domestically. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/2 "2013-12-17T06:16:42Z")
Good question and one I have also wondered. If I were to start looking, would check south Asian grocery stores and perhaps South American ones as well. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/3 "2013-12-17T06:35:33Z")
The word you’re looking for is “cultivar,” not breed. And to taste different kinds of banana, I suggest you leave the USA. Any market in Southeast Asia would be vastly happy to oblige. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/4 "2013-12-17T08:07:30Z")
There are non-Cavendish bananas in better grocery stores and produce markets in the S.F. Bay Area. Of the types available here, my favorite is the manzano (or apple) banana. It’s a miniature banana like the ladyfinger, but has a much better taste - better (in my opinion) than the mainstream Cavendish. Most of the alternative bananas I have tried have to be dead ripe to be edible. They can be astringent if they’re even a little on the green side. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/5 "2013-12-17T16:11:38Z")
Local hispanic markets in the DFW area typically carry at least the [manzana, red and baby bananas](http://www.turbana.com/fruit/exotics) as well as the usual Cavendish variety ones. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/6 "2013-12-17T16:15:25Z")
Most of them don’t travel well, so I vote for “out of the US.” I has some bananas in Bali that were juicy. \*Juicy \*bananas. Who knew?! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/7 "2013-12-17T16:47:12Z")
Leave the US! In Costa Rica I had one they call the apple-banana, because it tastes sort of like an apple. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/8 "2013-12-17T17:58:14Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Leave the US! In Costa Rica I had one they call the apple-banana, because it tastes sort of like an apple. Yum! ‘Manzana’ means “apple” in Spanish! You can get them here! ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/9 "2013-12-17T18:05:31Z")
If we lose the cavendish, this will be the second major banana breed we’ve lost in less then a century. The gros michael was the mainstream banana up until the 1950s (IIRC) when a disease wiped it out and the cavendish replaced it. There are labs all over the world trying to find a replacement that fits the general 1st world consumers banana desires- taste and portability. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/10 "2013-12-17T18:09:27Z")
Check ethnic grocery stores. Latin American or Asian… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/11 "2013-12-17T18:27:10Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > If we lose the cavendish, this will be the second major banana breed we’ve lost in less then a century. And I think it’s inevitable we will lose it. All Cavendish bananas are clones. There’s no genetic diversity at all. I thought the loss of the Gros Michel happened earlier than the 50’s, though. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/12 "2013-12-17T19:05:33Z")
> [@bup](#): > > And I think it’s inevitable we will lose it. All Cavendish bananas are clones. There’s no genetic diversity at all. > > I thought the loss of the Gros Michel happened earlier than the 50’s, though. Maybe 1930s? That sounds right, now that I think about it. I read a book on the subject a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/13 "2013-12-17T19:14:10Z")
Me too! Probably the same book, because, really, how many books do we need written for the layperson about the banana? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-buy-alternative-breeds-of-bananas/676532/14 "2013-12-17T20:16:02Z")
> [@bup](#): > > And I think it’s inevitable we will lose it. All Cavendish bananas are clones. There’s no genetic diversity at all. > > I thought the loss of the Gros Michel happened earlier than the 50’s, though. Not so much a “loss”, as in the cultivar isn’t extinct, but rather that the disease wiped out the plantations in Central America where the US export bananas were grown in the 1950s. They still grow them for export in Thailand apparently. > **[Gros Michel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana)** > > Gros Michel (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}French pronunciation: \[ɡʁo miʃɛl\]), often translated and known as "Big Mike", is an export cultivar of banana and was, until the 1950s, the main variety grown. The physical properties of the Gros Michel make it an excellent export produce; its thick peel makes it resilient to bruising d Gr...