I have a question....

Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
find a decent banana.

This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
same benefits as from bananas.

If anybody could help me in the pursuit of a decent banana, I'd be very
grateful!


Thanks,
Jessica

On 18 Aug 2005 18:20:45 -0700, "Jessica" > wrote:

>I have a question....
>
>Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
>black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
>from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
>find a decent banana.
>
>This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
>failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
>meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
>likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
>same benefits as from bananas.
>
>If anybody could help me in the pursuit of a decent banana, I'd be very
>grateful!

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science...076199,00.html

"The banana as we know it is on a crash course toward extinction. For
scientists, the battle to resuscitate the worlds favorite fruit has
begun€”a race against time that just may be too late to win.

[...]

"For nearly everyone in the U.S., Canada and Europe, a banana is a
banana: yellow and sweet, uniformly sized, firmly textured, always
seedless. Our banana, called the Cavendish, is one variety Aguilar
doesnt grow here. €œAnd for you,€� says the chief banana breeder for
the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Investigation (FHIA), "the
Cavendish is the banana."

[...]

"It doesnt matter if it comes from Honduras or Thailand, Jamaica or
the Canary Islands€”each Cavendish is an identical twin to one first
found in Southeast Asia, brought to a Caribbean botanic garden in the
early part of the 20th century, and put into commercial production
about 50 years ago.

[...]

"That sameness is the bananas paradox. After 15,000 years of human
cultivation, the banana is too perfect, lacking the genetic diversity
that is key to species health. What can ail one banana can ail all. A
fungus or bacterial disease that infects one plantation could march
around the globe and destroy millions of bunches, leaving supermarket
shelves empty."

Jessica wrote:

> Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> find a decent banana.

I've not had that problem. My bananas lately have been fine. *shrug*

> This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> same benefits as from bananas.

From http://www.kiwifruit.org/nutrition_menu.htm :

More Potassium than Bananas . . .
Potassium from fruits and vegetables helps the heart work more
efficiently, and is significantly in controlling blood pressure - the
"silent killer". Potassium controls heart activity and maintains fluid
balance. A single serving of kiwifruit outranks bananas as the top
low-sodium, high-potassium fruit


--Charlene


--
Jock: A strapping young fellow who instinctively knows that his knack
for teamwork and disdain for academics will someday catapult him into
the corporate boardroom. -- Bayan, Rick; The Cynic's Dictionary, 2002


email perronnelle at earthlink . net

J. Eric Durbin wrote:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science...076199,00.html
>
> "The banana as we know it is on a crash course toward extinction. For
> scientists, the battle to resuscitate the world's favorite fruit has
> begun-a race against time that just may be too late to win.


Wrong.

One of the latest urban myths to circulate on the internet:

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/bananas.asp

Claim: Bananas will be extinct within ten years.
Status: False.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2003]


Comment: Local radio station reported that bananas as we know them will not
be in existence in 5 to 15 years. The bananas has been genetically altered
so much that new plants can not be grown as there are no seeds and the
existing plants are slowly being destroyed by a parasite.


Origins:
Once
again, the ecological doomsday bell has been set to tolling, this time by
folks fearful of the imminent demise of our favorite fruit, the banana. In
January 2003, a report in New Scientist suggested bananas could well
disappear within ten years thanks to two blights: black Sigatoka, a leaf
fungus, and Panama disease, a soil fungus which attacks the roots of the
plant. Those claims have since been disputed.

Bananas aren't about to be swept from the face of the earth by a deadly
pestilence poised to wipe them out. There are about 300 varieties of the
fruit, and the current fear applies to only one of them, the Cavendish.
Granted, the Cavendish is our banana of choice, but it isn't the only banana
out there. Even if the Cavendish were lost to us, we would still not be
singing "Yes, We Have No Bananas."

The Cavendish, the banana American consumers are most familiar with, is
currently threatened in some Asian countries by a new strain of fusarium
wilt known as Panama Disease or Race 4. This soil-borne fungus attacks roots
and cannot be controlled by fungicides. If Race 4 were to reach Cavendish
plants in large-scale commercial plantations, it could have a devastating
impact on the species.

Bananas stand in greater peril to disease and insect damage than the
majority of other fruits because they are sterile, seedless mutants. New
plants are created from cuttings of existing ones, making them little more
than clones of one another. Without the natural diversity resulting from
sexual reproduction, bananas continue on generation after generation with
the same genetic makeup. Their inability to mutate and adapt leaves them
vulnerable to species-wide disaster, because what fells one of them will
prove the undoing of every plant within that particular variety. In the
1960s the Gros Michel, then a hugely popular variety of the fruit, was wiped
out by another strain of Panama Disease. The loss of the Gros Michel
promoted the Cavendish into the #1 spot.

Lack of genetic diversity does place the banana in a precarious position,
and the danger posed by Race 4 to the Cavendish is real. (Sigatoka, while
serious, provides less of a threat in that it can be successfully combated.)
Yet according to scientists and banana experts who attended the three-day
seminar on conventional and alternative handling of common banana diseases
held 7-10 August 2003 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, bananas are still far from
global extinction. Disease control alternatives such as the development of
"plants resistant to the main diseases," the employment of
"friendly-bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms," and the increasing use
of organic practices have contributed greatly to the successful control of
feared banana plagues, they say. This echoes what was said in February 2003
by a plant pathologist with the American Phytopathological Society (APS) in
response to the controversial New Scientist article that brought the plight
of the Cavendish to the public's attention:


"Diseases are, and will remain, major constraints to both export and
subsistence production of banana, and there is no doubt that Black Sigatoka
and Panama Disease constitute the most important threats," said Randy C.
Ploetz, Professor at the University of Florida's Tropical Research and
Education Center. "However, it is unlikely that these problems will cause
production to decrease greatly in the next decade, let alone that the crop
will become extinct."

For Race 4 to spread into the large plantations, either infected banana
suckers or infested soil would have to be introduced into the growing
fields. Practices allowing this type of spread are strictly forbidden in the
export-producing countries, and new plantations are started from
pathogen-free, tissue cultured plants. Therefore, despite the seriousness of
the threat posed by Race 4, it looks like bananas as a whole and even the
species we're now best accustomed to are going to be with us for a long
time. Which is a state of affairs worth going bananas over.

Bananas are a nutritional gold mine. At only 110 calories per 4-ounce
offering, they contain a mere trace of fat. They are high in vitamin B6,
which helps fight infection and is essential for the synthesis of heme, the
iron-containing part of hemoglobin. They are also rich in potassium (more
than 400 mg per banana) and are a great source of fiber. In recent years, a
number of claims about their healthful benefits have surfaced, including
that they combat warts, depression, and morning sickness. Although the jury
is still out on those benefits, this humble yellow-skinned fruit could lower
the risk of heart attack and stroke as part of a heart-healthy diet and
could potentially even lower the risk of cancer. Or at least so says the
FDA.

Bananas, by the way, grow on plants, not trees. One last bit of banana
trivia: a bunch of bananas is properly styled a hand, and a single fruit a
finger."

</>

Jessica wrote:
> I have a question....
>
> Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> find a decent banana.
>
> This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> same benefits as from bananas.
>
> If anybody could help me in the pursuit of a decent banana, I'd be very
> grateful!
>
>
> Thanks,
> Jessica
>

We eat a lot of bananas and haven't noticed any issues with them here in
the NE.

Jessica wrote:
>
> I have a question....
>
> Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> find a decent banana.
>
> This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> same benefits as from bananas.
>
> If anybody could help me in the pursuit of a decent banana, I'd be very
> grateful!
>
> Thanks,
> Jessica

Well, I can't help with the bananas, unfortunately, but
you know, there are potassium pills you can take. You don't
have to rely totally on your diet to replace the potassium.
I take Micro-K, myself.

Kate

Jessica wrote:

>

>
> This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> same benefits as from bananas.
>


Orange juice and potatoes are also high potassium foods, as much as
bananas. When I was on potassium depleteing meds, I was advised to
drink an 8 ounce glass of orange juice a day.

Sandi

J. Eric Durbin wrote:
> On 18 Aug 2005 18:20:45 -0700, "Jessica" > wrote:
>
> >I have a question....
> >
> >Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> >black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying

....snip...

>
> http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science...076199,00.html
>
> "The banana as we know it is on a crash course toward extinction. For
> scientists, the battle to resuscitate the world's favorite fruit has
> begun-a race against time that just may be too late to win.
>
> [...]
>
> "For nearly everyone in the U.S., Canada and Europe, a banana is a
> banana: yellow and sweet, uniformly sized, firmly textured, always
> seedless. Our banana, called the Cavendish, is one variety Aguilar
> doesn't grow here. "And for you," says the chief banana breeder for
> the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Investigation (FHIA), "the
> Cavendish is the banana."
>
> [...]
>
> "It doesn't matter if it comes from Honduras or Thailand, Jamaica or
> the Canary Islands-each Cavendish is an identical twin to one first
> found in Southeast Asia, brought to a Caribbean botanic garden in the
> early part of the 20th century, and put into commercial production
> about 50 years ago.
>
> [...]
>
> "That sameness is the banana's paradox. After 15,000 years of human
> cultivation, the banana is too perfect, lacking the genetic diversity
> that is key to species health. What can ail one banana can ail all. A
> fungus or bacterial disease that infects one plantation could march
> around the globe and destroy millions of bunches, leaving supermarket
> shelves empty."

Where's the part about the "disgusting black core?"

-bwg

Sandi wrote:
> Jessica wrote:
>
> >
>
> >
> > This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> > failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> > meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> > likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> > same benefits as from bananas.
> >
>
>
> Orange juice and potatoes are also high potassium foods, as much as
> bananas. When I was on potassium depleteing meds, I was advised to
> drink an 8 ounce glass of orange juice a day.
>
> Sandi

The National Kidney Foundation's list of high (and low) potassium foods
can be found he

<http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=103>

-bwg

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:39:38 -0400, George wrote:

> Jessica wrote:
> > I have a question....
> >
> > Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> > black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> > from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> > find a decent banana.
> >
> > This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> > failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> > meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> > likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> > same benefits as from bananas.
> >
> > If anybody could help me in the pursuit of a decent banana, I'd be very
> > grateful!
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jessica
> >
>
> We eat a lot of bananas and haven't noticed any issues with them here in
> the NE.

I think the trick is not to buy them fully ripened.

Maybe they got too cold at some pint before you bought them?

sf wrote:
>> We eat a lot of bananas and haven't noticed any issues with them here in
>> the NE.
>
>
> I think the trick is not to buy them fully ripened.
>

That could be. I usually buy mine fairly green. Otherwise, they become
overripe seemingly overnight.

--Charlene


--
Jock: A strapping young fellow who instinctively knows that his knack
for teamwork and disdain for academics will someday catapult him into
the corporate boardroom. -- Bayan, Rick; The Cynic's Dictionary, 2002


email perronnelle at earthlink . net

sf wrote:

> I think the trick is not to buy them fully ripened.
>
I've never seen that. I often get the overripe to make banana bread
and have never seen it.
I do believe the "organic" ones we get are better tasting...more
like banana and less like fiber. They are also a bit smaller, and
I dislike opening one of those huge honkers just to have the
preschooler in my house (toddler days are OVER) take 10 little
bites and have to cope with the rest.
The red bananas here are also good, as are the little "palm" ones
that look like a human hand (albeit one with horrible edema).
blacksalt

Jessica wrote:
>
> I have a question....
>
> Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> find a decent banana.
>
> This is important to my family, because my aunt has congestive heart
> failure and needs a high-potassium diet to replace the potassium her
> meds cause her to lose. Avocadoes are out b/c she's allergic. She
> likes cantaloupe, but she'd have to eat truckloads of them to get the
> same benefits as from bananas.
>
> If anybody could help me in the pursuit of a decent banana, I'd be very
> grateful!
>
> Thanks,
> Jessica


We haven't had any bananas around here like that. But try the Asian or
Hispanic shops for good bananas.

There are plenty of other sources of potassium; banana probably isn't
even the best. Sweet potatoes, leafy greens, melons, beans and orange
juice are good sources. Also her doctor can prescribe a low dose
supplement.

Jessica wrote:

> I have a question....
>
> Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> find a decent banana.

You can't find decent bananas anywhere?? I know that bananas seem to be
much better at certain times of the year than others, and coming from a
range of places the seasons must vary, along with different species of the
fruit, but I have yet to identity exactly when it is that they tend to be
best. I need to keep track better. At any rate, I have not been having
problems with bananas here. I have a banana every day, but I tend to buy
them only in small bunches so that they are ready to eat but won't be over
ripe by the time I get to the last one.

wrote:
> J. Eric Durbin wrote:
> > On 18 Aug 2005 18:20:45 -0700, "Jessica" > wrote:
> >
> > >I have a question....
> > >
> > >Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> > >black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
>
> ...snip...
>
> >
> > http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science...076199,00.html
> >
> > "The banana as we know it is on a crash course toward extinction. For
> > scientists, the battle to resuscitate the world's favorite fruit has
> > begun-a race against time that just may be too late to win.
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > "For nearly everyone in the U.S., Canada and Europe, a banana is a
> > banana: yellow and sweet, uniformly sized, firmly textured, always
> > seedless. Our banana, called the Cavendish, is one variety Aguilar
> > doesn't grow here. "And for you," says the chief banana breeder for
> > the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Investigation (FHIA), "the
> > Cavendish is the banana."
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > "It doesn't matter if it comes from Honduras or Thailand, Jamaica or
> > the Canary Islands-each Cavendish is an identical twin to one first
> > found in Southeast Asia, brought to a Caribbean botanic garden in the
> > early part of the 20th century, and put into commercial production
> > about 50 years ago.
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > "That sameness is the banana's paradox. After 15,000 years of human
> > cultivation, the banana is too perfect, lacking the genetic diversity
> > that is key to species health. What can ail one banana can ail all. A
> > fungus or bacterial disease that infects one plantation could march
> > around the globe and destroy millions of bunches, leaving supermarket
> > shelves empty."
>
> Where's the part about the "disgusting black core?"
>
I was curious about that, myself.


Jessica

Charlene Charette wrote:
> Jessica wrote:
>
> > Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> > black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> > from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> > find a decent banana.
>
> I've not had that problem. My bananas lately have been fine. *shrug*
>
Maybe it's just happening here in the southwest, then. I just bought a
couple organic bananas today, and those were OK. Maybe I'll have to
shell out more $$ to get an edible banana....

> From http://www.kiwifruit.org/nutrition_menu.htm :
>
> More Potassium than Bananas . . .
> Potassium from fruits and vegetables helps the heart work more
> efficiently, and is significantly in controlling blood pressure - the
> "silent killer". Potassium controls heart activity and maintains fluid
> balance. A single serving of kiwifruit outranks bananas as the top
> low-sodium, high-potassium fruit
>
Thanks, I'll get her a kiwi to try...I know I like them, but I didn't
know they had more potassium than bananas. Learn something new every
day.

Jessica

sf wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:39:38 -0400, George wrote:
>
> > Jessica wrote:
> > > I have a question....
> > >
> > > Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a disgusting,
> > > black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried buying
> > > from different stores, in different degrees of ripeness, and just can't
> > > find a decent banana.
> > >
> >
> > We eat a lot of bananas and haven't noticed any issues with them here in
> > the NE.
>
> I think the trick is not to buy them fully ripened.
>
I tried that, but the "core" was even bigger and blacker. I wonder if
it's how people are storing them before they ripen. I'm going to stick
with the organic ones and see if those are better...and I'll see if my
aunt will eat kiwi fruit, too. (She's in her 70's and set in her ways,
but maybe if I tell her about the high potassium content--and that I
like them--she'll be willing to try something new, LOL.)


Jessica

Kate Connally wrote:
> Well, I can't help with the bananas, unfortunately, but
> you know, there are potassium pills you can take. You don't
> have to rely totally on your diet to replace the potassium.
> I take Micro-K, myself.
>
Thanks for the tip, but I'm afraid that she (like me) has a very
sensitive stomach, and potassium supplements cause extreme stomach
upset. Me, I get my potassium mostly from potatoes, since I started
having problems with recurring ulcers.

Jessica

Sandi wrote:
>
>
> Orange juice and potatoes are also high potassium foods, as much as
> bananas. When I was on potassium depleteing meds, I was advised to
> drink an 8 ounce glass of orange juice a day.
>
My aunt loves orange juice, but unfortunately, it gave her some major
stomach trouble when she drank it regularly; even Prilosec didn't offer
relief till she stopped drinking it. Lots of good ideas here, and I'm
sorry I forgot to mention her sensitive stomach when I asked the
original question!

Jessica

On 19 Aug 2005 17:20:35 -0700, "Jessica" > wrote:

wrote:
>> J. Eric Durbin wrote:
>> > On 18 Aug 2005 18:20:45 -0700, "Jessica" >
wrote:
>> >
>> > >I have a question....
>> > >
>> > >Why do so many ordinary bananas (Chiquita, Dole) have a
disgusting,
>> > >black "core" in them? Are they being ripened wrong? I've tried
buying
>>
>> ...snip...
>>snipped.......
>> Where's the part about the "disgusting black core?"
>>
>I was curious about that, myself.
>
>
>Jessica

The center of the banana is the vestigial seeds. Long ago when
bananas had seeds those were they.

aloha,
Thunder...
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff

kalanamak wrote:
>
> I've never seen that. I often get the overripe to make banana bread
> and have never seen it.
>
If I run into one of these bananas again, I'll have to take a photo of
it and e-mail it to Dole or Chiquita (our stores carry those brands,
which have had this problem). If this isn't happening in other areas,
it must be a local problem....

> I do believe the "organic" ones we get are better tasting...more
> like banana and less like fiber. They are also a bit smaller, and
> I dislike opening one of those huge honkers just to have the
> preschooler in my house (toddler days are OVER) take 10 little
> bites and have to cope with the rest.
>
ROTFL! When I gave my aunt the organic one I got today, she was
delighted...it was nice not having to perform a "yuck-ectomy" on our
bananas, for once!

> The red bananas here are also good, as are the little "palm" ones
> that look like a human hand (albeit one with horrible edema).
>
LOL, I'll never view those bananas in the same way again!


Thanks for your suggestions, everybody--
Jessica

On 19 Aug 2005 17:25:42 -0700, Jessica wrote:

> I tried that, but the "core" was even bigger and blacker. I wonder if
> it's how people are storing them before they ripen. I'm going to stick
> with the organic ones and see if those are better...

We just buy the regular ones from Safeway and they're fine for the
most part. I do remember one last year that had what looked like a
black core, but I attributed it to being over ripe because it was very
spotted. Other than that, no problems here.

Jessica wrote:
> Thanks for the tip, but I'm afraid that she (like me) has a very
> sensitive stomach, and potassium supplements cause extreme stomach
> upset. Me, I get my potassium mostly from potatoes, since I started
> having problems with recurring ulcers.
>
> Jessica

Replace the salt in your shakers with potassium chloride or a mix of
sodium chloride and potassium chloride. Morton makes a couple:

http://www.mortonsalt.com/consumer/p...ts/saltsub.htm

-L.