Just as with Apples, there are a wide variety of Bananas and there are considerable differences, especially when cooking with them.

Note: This page is primarily for a discussion among a few cooks that I know but others who find it by accident are welcome to read.

We use bananas in quite a few things. I have one every morning in my porridge (thanks to my niece Olivia who suggested this) as it acts as a sweetener that’s much healthier than traditional options like sugar. We make Banana Bread, Banana Muffins, Banoffee Pie, and Banana Pudding (American definition of pudding, not UK) frequently.  Also occasionally Banana Pancakes and Flying Jacob. Sometime in the future I’d like to try Turon.

And then there are cocktails that use fresh bananas like Bananas Foster and Dirty Banana.

Occasionally Banana Bread or Banofee Pie don’t turn out so well and we couldn’t figure out why. But now we know. It’s the variety of banana!

If a banana will be good for using in any of the above recipes shows up quickly with porridge. A bad banana will have a strong metallic/mineral smell when cooking. Some will not break down well when cooked, and some will get a black center when pan fried. 

Good bananas will not have the metallic/mineral smell or black center and they will fairly quickly break down when cooked in porridge. If a banana is good for porridge then we know that particular bunch is a good variety and will be good for other things like banana bread.  In a pinch we’ve learned that Robinson is most reliably a good variety and Fife’s should always be avoided.

There appear to be three primary groups; varieties that are good even when slightly green (like Robinson brand below usually is, except most recent), those that might be a little metallic when greener but better when more ripe (like the Dole brand below), and those that will not be good even when ripe (Fife’s brand).

Unfortunately grocery stores in the U.S. don’t tell us the variety like those elsewhere so we need to do a bit of guessing by brand.

2024.08.16 – Dole

Tried one of the Dole bananas again today and it was now OK.  Despite the significant browning on the outside, the meat was still quite firm.

Note the one Robinson bunch that is still somewhat green. Very little change in these over the past 3 weeks.

 

2024.08.13 – Robinson

The two current bunches seem determined to remain green. One from Dole and one from Robinson. 

So now a new bunch from Robinson (resulting in three bunches of bananas on the counter).  These have very little green on them.

Today’s porridge was borderline acceptable. Not good but edible. Not nearly as bitter or minerally as the prior bunch from Robinson (that still have green on them).

Second day (2024.08.14) is much better.

 

 

 

2024.08.01 – Robinson

First banana broke down fairly quickly. Had a slight metallic smell and taste but mostly edible. I didn’t finish my bowl.

 

2024.07.27 – Dole

First was almost unedible due to metallic taste. Second was much better and the rest were OK, not as sweet as some varieties, but OK. All of them took very considerable time to break down. Even the last one required about 10 extra minutes of cooking before there were no noticeable slices.

 

 

 

2024.07.12 – Robinson.

These were good first through last.  

 

 

2024.07.04 – Dole

 

 

First was a 3/5. Edible but slightly off. Second was much better and the rest were good.

 

2024.06.28 – Robinson