Cavendish Banana

About

The Cavendish banana is the most widely-grown banana cultivar. Plantations devoted to this banana can be found in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and the bulk of bananas on the shelves of Western supermarkets are Cavendish bananas. Chances are reasonably high that you've seen a Cavendish banana recently, because these bananas are ubiquitous, cheaply available year-round in fresh form.

These bananas could be easily transported once they were ripe, generating double profits for the railway by allowing the company to charge for passengers and freight, and to transport a costly exotic food on the same train. The price of bananas started to drop, and bananas quickly became a very familiar tropical fruit.

Cavendish bananas and bananas in general are especially susceptible to disease because the plants are clones of each other. Bananas are reproduced by cultivating their corms, as they do not produce seeds, and as a result, all Cavendish bananas around the world are genetically identical. This means that when a disease evolves to attack the Cavendish banana cultivar, it can potentially impact every Cavendish plant in the world, wiping the cultivar out in a very short period of time.

Biologists have suggested that the vulnerability of the banana is a strong argument for trying to retain genetic diversity for this tropical plant. By breeding additional cultivars with the use of wild stock and encouraging people to buy a range of bananas, biologists hope to keep bananas in supermarkets in the years to come, even if the Cavendish banana ultimately succumbs to disease.

Information

Other names: Dwarf Cavendish Banana
Translations: Cavendish Μπανάνα, كافنديش الموز, Cavendish Banán, Banana Cavendish, 카벤디쉬 바나나, Cavendish Banane, Cavendish Banán, קוונדיש בננה, Кавендиш Банана, Cavendish Saging, Cavendish केले, Кавендіш Банана, 卡文迪什香蕉, キャベンディッシュバナナ, Кевендиш Банана, Pisang Cavendish, Кавендиш Банан

Physical Description

Cavendish Bananas are greenish-yellow in appearance and change to brownish-yellow as they ripen.

Colors: brownish yellow, greenish yellow

Tasting Notes

Flavors: Sweet, starchy
Mouthfeel: Pasty, Starchy
Food complements: Fruit salads, Fruit compotes
Wine complements: Pinot gris
Beverage complements: Milk
Substitutes: Plantain

Selecting and Buying

Seasonality: january, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, opctober, november, december
Choosing: When choosing Cavandish bananas you look for the green fresh ones that why when you bring them home they have time to ripen. You can enjoy either starch or sweet depending on ripeness.
Buying: You can purchase at your local grocery store in the fruit section.

Social/Political

History: Cavandish Bananas are named after William Cavandish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.

Author

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