Have you ever noticed that the taste of banana flavoring in candies and puddings, just doesn’t taste like a banana? Sure, there’s a hint of banana flavor, but then a bright, artificial taste that just isn’t found in our favorite big yellow fruit. Well, there’s a reason for that, and it’s pretty crazy.
From the late 1800s until the 1960s, the most common type of banana bought across the globe was a variety known as the Gros Michel banana. During the 1920s, a strange fungus began killing banana trees. This fungus, known as Panama Disease, wiped out almost 100% of the Gros Michel bananas on the entire planet, as well as countless other banana varieties. The best of what was left was the disease-resistant variety, Cavendish, which is now pretty much the only variety of banana that is sold in large amounts. The bananas you pick up at the supermarket aren’t the same type that your grandparents ate, and they sure taste different, too.
Banana flavoring relies on the compound Isomal Acetate, which is found in the Cavendish variety, but so are a lot of other flavor compounds. The Gros Michel banana has a far less complicated flavor-chemical profile, and the prominent compound is Isomal Acetate. So, banana flavoring tastes much more similar to the Gros Michel variety than it does to the Cavendish variety. Now, if you’re one of the lucky few that can track down one of the remaining Gros Michel bananas, you'll find they have a taste that seems artificial to us, just like banana flavoring. Like I said, it’s pretty crazy.
Panama disease also had another consequence that affects modern bananas; they all now come from a clone of one banana tree, much like the Navel Oranges we talked about last week. There are almost a thousand varieties of bananas in the world, but the banana commonly found in the grocery store is known as the Cavendish banana. So how did this tropical fruit end up with a distinctly British-sounding name? Simple: Sometime in 1834, William Spencer Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, became obsessed with bananas after a sole fruit had been shipped to him, and he wanted to grow some of his own. In his pursuit of the delicious yellow fruit, he instructed his gardener to make his dream a reality. The studious gardener, (we gardeners are a studious folk after all) managed to get several banana trees from China sent to the estate, but all of them perished during the perilous journey, all except for one that is. The surviving tree was treated with love and care while the eager English noblemen waited for the fruit to grow. It matured and produced fruit (technically a berry) that was bright yellow and easy to peel. Within a hundred years, the estate was producing vast amounts of bananas. The hearty cuttings left the Cavendish estate and flooded plantations across the globe. It came to be known as the Cavendish banana, but it wasn’t all that popular. The Gros Michel banana was sweeter and had a more distinct flavor that delighted taste buds the world over.
Panama disease also had another consequence that affects modern bananas; they all now come from a clone of one banana tree, much like the Navel Oranges we talked about last week. There are almost a thousand varieties of bananas in the world, but the banana commonly found in the grocery store is known as the Cavendish banana. So how did this tropical fruit end up with a distinctly British-sounding name? Simple: Sometime in 1834, William Spencer Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, became obsessed with bananas after a sole fruit had been shipped to him, and he wanted to grow some of his own. In his pursuit of the delicious yellow fruit, he instructed his gardener to make his dream a reality. The studious gardener, (we gardeners are a studious folk after all) managed to get several banana trees from China sent to the estate, but all of them perished during the perilous journey, all except for one that is. The surviving tree was treated with love and care while the eager English noblemen waited for the fruit to grow. It matured and produced fruit (technically a berry) that was bright yellow and easy to peel. Within a hundred years, the estate was producing vast amounts of bananas. The hearty cuttings left the Cavendish estate and flooded plantations across the globe. It came to be known as the Cavendish banana, but it wasn’t all that popular. The Gros Michel banana was sweeter and had a more distinct flavor that delighted taste buds the world over.
As Panama disease spread like wildfire across countless plantations, plantation owners struggled to find a solution as their crops kept failing. The Cavendish variety fit the bill; the descendants of that one hearty tree, all essentially clones, happened to be resistant to Panama disease.
Fruit producers planted Cavendish cuttings and the banana bounced back to the point where today, millions of people on the planet have only ever eaten the modern Cavendish banana.
The war isn’t over though, and the bad news is that bananas are looking destined for extinction. In recent years, a new form of Panama disease has popped up, and not even the Cavendish is safe anymore. Banana crops all over South East Asia have failed as a result of this new form of Panama disease, and it’s only a matter of time until it spreads. In 10 years, bananas as we know it are going to be a thing of the past. Sad, but there is hope.
Bananas are one of the most traded foods on the planet, and demand for the bright yellow fruit has increased year after year. From 2001 through to 2012, banana exports increased from 11.5 million tons to 16.5 million tons, which is a 7 billion dollar industry. While the world is clamoring for more bananas, the return of Panama Disease in 1990 is once again threatening the world’s banana crops, and it’s already left a heavy impact. The crisis in the 1950s cost the banana industry over 2.3 billion dollars, and the new variation of Panama disease has already cost the banana industry over 400 million dollars and is projected to get much, much worse. With that much money involved you can bet there is a demand for an answer.
Fruit producers planted Cavendish cuttings and the banana bounced back to the point where today, millions of people on the planet have only ever eaten the modern Cavendish banana.
The war isn’t over though, and the bad news is that bananas are looking destined for extinction. In recent years, a new form of Panama disease has popped up, and not even the Cavendish is safe anymore. Banana crops all over South East Asia have failed as a result of this new form of Panama disease, and it’s only a matter of time until it spreads. In 10 years, bananas as we know it are going to be a thing of the past. Sad, but there is hope.
Bananas are one of the most traded foods on the planet, and demand for the bright yellow fruit has increased year after year. From 2001 through to 2012, banana exports increased from 11.5 million tons to 16.5 million tons, which is a 7 billion dollar industry. While the world is clamoring for more bananas, the return of Panama Disease in 1990 is once again threatening the world’s banana crops, and it’s already left a heavy impact. The crisis in the 1950s cost the banana industry over 2.3 billion dollars, and the new variation of Panama disease has already cost the banana industry over 400 million dollars and is projected to get much, much worse. With that much money involved you can bet there is a demand for an answer.
A big part of the problem is that modern bananas are an example of a monoculture crop. Monoculture crops are plants that are genetically identical, or very similar. While monocultures can produce high yields and uniform crops that are ideal for shipping, they are incredibly susceptible to fungi, insects, and disease. Unfortunately that means is is only a matter of time until they face the same fate as the Gros Michel. Unlike the 1950s, we’ve got the tools and knowledge to put up a good fight!
Currently, Panama Disease has only appeared in a handful of locations, and thanks to modern advances in quarantine and identification measures, its spread has been slowed down, but not stopped. One country that is currently battling the spread of Panama Disease is Australia, where occurrences of the fungus are routine and account for a loss of half of all banana plants. Working with the Australian government, researchers have made huge progress in genetically modifying bananas in order to make them resistant to Panama Disease. The Lady Finger variety of bananas had its genome mapped in 2012, which revealed that it was resistant to Panama Disease. Researchers then copied the genes responsible for the immunity and inserted them into the genes of the Cavendish variety.
I am not a big fan of genetically modifying our food, especially if another approach is available. Growers in the Philippines have been very active in researching a way to breed a more resilient banana using traditional cross breeding techniques with some of those other 1000 varieties of bananas I mentioned earlier. Personally, I am much more interested in these methods then in a laboratory solution.
Currently, Panama Disease has only appeared in a handful of locations, and thanks to modern advances in quarantine and identification measures, its spread has been slowed down, but not stopped. One country that is currently battling the spread of Panama Disease is Australia, where occurrences of the fungus are routine and account for a loss of half of all banana plants. Working with the Australian government, researchers have made huge progress in genetically modifying bananas in order to make them resistant to Panama Disease. The Lady Finger variety of bananas had its genome mapped in 2012, which revealed that it was resistant to Panama Disease. Researchers then copied the genes responsible for the immunity and inserted them into the genes of the Cavendish variety.
I am not a big fan of genetically modifying our food, especially if another approach is available. Growers in the Philippines have been very active in researching a way to breed a more resilient banana using traditional cross breeding techniques with some of those other 1000 varieties of bananas I mentioned earlier. Personally, I am much more interested in these methods then in a laboratory solution.
It’s hard to imagine how much effort, money, and research hours are being spent on bananas. To most people, bananas are little more than a healthy and convenient snack. But if it weren’t for an eccentric British Duke from the 1800s, we wouldn’t even have bananas today, so there is that. Next time you’re in the fruit aisle in the grocery store, take a second to appreciate the rich history behind bananas and all of the groundbreaking work being done to preserve their future. You might even want to think about growing your own, they do well in our area and are fairly low maintenance too.
Happy gardening!!
Happy gardening!!
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