Fruits

Nearly all of the bananas sold globally are just one kind called the Cavendish, which is susceptible to a deadly fungus called Tropical Race 4,… Read More »Why Are Bananas Dying Out?

Gros Michel. Gros Michel (French pronunciation: ​[ɡʁo miʃɛl]), often translated and known as “Big Mike”, is an export cultivar of banana and was, until the… Read More »What Was The Old Banana?

Since the 1950s, these cultivars have been the most internationally traded bananas. They replaced the Gros Michel banana (commonly known as Kampala banana in Kenya… Read More »Do Cavendish Bananas Still Exist?

Panama disease. In the 1950s, the ‘Gros Michel’ variety of banana was wiped out by Panama disease. The banana crop in some locations was basically… Read More »What Killed The Gros Michel Banana?

Bananas grow best in hot, humid climates and are most often imported from Central America, including Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ecuador. Bananas come in… Read More »Where Do The Best Bananas Come From?

The Musa acuminata species of banana is native to Southeast Asia. Most of the bananas you buy in the store are from this variety. The… Read More »Which Are Natural Bananas?

Despite their smooth texture, bananas actually do have small seeds inside, but they are commercially propagated through cuttings which means that all bananas are actually… Read More »Are All Bananas Clones?

Cavendish banana. Americans and Europeans are most familiar with the Cavendish banana. Most Chiquita bananas are of the Cavendish variety but we’ve different varieties of… Read More »What Type Of Banana Is Chiquita?

Currently, a new outbreak of Panama disease caused by the strain Tropical Race 4 (TR4) threatens the production of the Cavendish banana, today’s most popular… Read More »What Pathogen Is Attacking Bananas Today?

If you ate bananas before the 1950s, you most likely would have been eating the Gros Michel type—but by the early 1960s, they had all… Read More »What Type Of Banana Did We Used To Eat?