Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 18, 2015

Actually, off the top of my head I can think of at least three completely different kinds of “true” bananas (i.e., the sweet fruits that are usually consumed raw), plus three or four very different kinds of plantains (i.e., the starchier fruits that need to be cooked before you can eat them)..So… flawed premise, kid.

To extend on your comment many people don’t know that there are hundreds of varieties of apples, at least a half dozen different colors of carrots, and the Maya had many hundreds of potato varieties to name a few. Suppliers only choose what is the most profitable for them.

Oh, great. Now I hear a Granny Smith calling my name.

Nos, thanks, dude….I had no idea….

Strangely enough, a few days ago I read that Cavendish bananas are being threatened by a form of wilt called Panama Disease…a search is on for a more resistant cultivar.

50 years ago, the Cavendish themselves replaced another banana variety that was wiped out by the same disease.

I do a lot of my shopping in a small Mexican supermarket (here in N. Cal) where you can buy several varieties of banana not found at the big American chains…mostly small ones or plantains.The manager tells me the problem is getting non-Hispanic customers to accept that most are darker skinned when ripe…they try to eat them green, while they’re still inedible.

Even the “regular old” Cavendish is supposed to be speckled, but I know people who throw them away just when they get good.

@Nos NevetsThanks for the banana-info! Lots of new stuff in it.

Yes, we have no bananas

There is no better apple than the Honey Crisp! I’m in awe of it! God only knows what perversions of agriculture were devised to create it but it’s by far the best tasting apple I’ve ever had and, if I must brag, I’ve had a LOT of different varieties in an extended life.

There are actually dif kinds of bannanas. Plantain, dwarf, as well as red, Cavendish, etc.

What do you think Susan’s IQ is? Gotta be up there big time….

There was a small banana farm just south of Santa Barbara in a perfect microclimate that grew many delicious varieties. It was destroyed in a devastating mudslide that killed 13 people if I remember correctly.

I wonder if kids in Costa Rica think all apples are the same because the only ones they see in stores are the nasty Red “Delicious” variety that were bred for shelf-life and appearance.

I can get two other varieties of banana at my local supermarkets – Red and Manzano (plus a couple of different plantains). Both have a far better flavor than the Cavendish, though they cost more. Some experts say Red bananas will be the new common kind when the Panama disease kills off the current plantations, the same way it dispatched the Gros Michel variety starting in the 1940s.

I agree entirely. Honey Crisps are almost sinful. I also love Cameos. I like to think of myself as a good apple too.

My mom used to put bruised bananas in jello, and since jello is clear, you could still see the bruises….I wish she could make me some now….

Only a kid in Michigan who has only seen the one kind of banana shipped from Panama by Chiquita would say this.

In India there are hundreds of types