Gros Michel Banana Review - Weird Fruit Explorer Ep. 150 

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When you go to get some bananas and get bullied by the fruit vendors.

"I was surrounded by elderly fruit merchants pointing and laughing at me." Dude, you've got some weird nightmares. :-)

Si, si, también vengo por Damián Kuc.

Jared, the Gros Michel ripe light green when it is grown at low elevation (200 m elevation) it ripes more light yellow. It never really gets yellow like a Cavendish but looks can be deceiving; the taste is superior. Once the Gros Michel is harvested mature and is allowed to ripe naturally it tastes the same irrespective of where it is grown. This is the explanation given to me by a Caribbean banana farmer who used to export bananas before the Panama disease epidemic. This farmer still has Gros Michel growing on their estate and they taste much better than the bananas imported and sold in the local markets.

The question is; does it taste like artificial banana flavoring like is used in banana candies? Supposedly when they developed the artificial banana flavorings the Gros Michel was the popular banana, so it was based of its flavor.

Te ha traído Damián Kuc.

Viniste por Damián kuk no?

I have never been so hungry for a banana

I visited this video wondering where I could go to taste Gros Michel bananas. Turns out I that since I spent three years in Malaysia and speak bahasa, I have eaten countless numbers of them already ;)

The reason Gros Michel was as vulnerable as it was and the Cavendish are in critical danger isn't exactly monoculture. It's that they're clones. They all have the exact same genes, which means if one single plant gets infected and dies, all of them will potentially die if the infection spreads. As for the Gros Michel's fungus, the spores can lie dormant in the ground for decades, even if you burn the crop, and this will likely happen to the Cavendish as well.

I'd literally cry if that laughing story happened to me, honestly one of my worst fears is to have people laughing at me like that.

When I lived In Taiwan I used their bananas to make banana blueberry smoothies for breakfast and OMFG it was mindblowing. So so yum.

Todos acá después de ver el vídeo de Damián ccucucuckk

I got some of these planted.. don't ruin my anticipation

I always wondered why bananas in movies & pictures looked so different compared to the bananas of today! Thanks for confirming what I suspected!

The reason why they prefer the bananas green is that they usually batter and fry them.

Bananas interestingly enough are related to ginger and turmeric, I guess the similarities can be seen in the look to their fruits, but its weird to me how the plants being closely related are used for compleatly different purposes.

Here's the comment I left on a video called The Terrifying Truth about Bananas. When I was a small child back in the 50's, I had some sort of dietary deficiency which was eventually outgrown after I had eaten an exclusive diet of bananas and cottage cheese for a couple of years. I'm told I self-selected the diet and would eat nothing else. Some years later, my Mother was told about the deficiency. I would have been eating gros michelle bananas. From about the age of 5 or 6, I would only eat a banana reluctantly at best. This was about the time the cavendish came in. Modern bananas for the most part remain 'not food' to me, and thanks to this video, I now know why.

In Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean gros michel is the main banana grown, and is grown in many backyards or even in wild. The green or unripe bananas are boiled or steamed with skins on, peeled then used similarly to potato: mashed, in casseroles or in salads, or peeled then cooked in soups. It's rich in iron. Don't think anyone here eats them green like he did here though

He did a full on like review on the banana the peel, the firmness, he showed us the banana.... I’ve never seen this much information go into a banana 😂😂

I remember these things when I was a kid, small bananas imported from Philippine. For me I weren't really thinking they are something different, I just regard them as another kind of bananas. Its really nice to know the history behind them, thanks : )

"Do you have Yellow Pisang?" "I'm Pisang blood!"

Pisang Ambon's name came from a region in Indonesia, actually (Although it's not cultivated in that region... long story). There are two types, Pisang Ambon Lumut (Lumut = moss = green) and Pisang Ambon kuning (yellow). The green/moss one is known to be sweeter than the regular yellow one (which now I think people confuse it with Cavendish) and when *just* ripe, they stay green. BUT, they CAN get slightly overripe and become yellow with brown spots and it becomes VERY aromatic. In indonesia, we usually eat it in that state, but we use them a lot more for baking/making kueh or banana bread/cake because the aroma can withstand the cooking/baking/mashing. Sorry to hear the shopkeepers laughing at you, though, I don't even know why they laughed at you for asking ripe/yellow Ambon bananas... even if they're selling you the moss variety, because it's... pretty common to ask for ripe ones? Maybe the translator was pranking you...? How confusing :) Eitherway, great channel, from here I learned a lot about many fruits that I've seen but never tried! And also learned about new very strange fruits! Looking forward for more. Sorry for also necro-ing your old video comments :)

Damian kuc, right?

man this is a GREAT STORY! Love the convo with the banana seller. Make more of these vids!

Hi, I spent 77$ buy 3 pounds of Gros Michel on Miami Fruit, and I just want to tell people who are also interested in buying it not to waste money on it🤣 It has more sourness indeed, which provides it with a more complicated flavor, but its "banana flavor" is literally the same as those which can be bought in the supermarket. For me, it doesn't worth this much🧐BTW, it's the first time I bought something according to your videos, and I'll definitely purchase more in the future, thank you for introducing me to these "weird fruits"!

I heard from a popular candy maker that the Gros Michel banana was actually the one they based artificial banana flavoring on, but since it got that fungus it went out of popularity about the same time as the artificial flavoring popped up. So now we have the cavendish, but most banana flavored things are based on gros michel bananas. Seemed like a pretty trustworthy source.

Nevermind, I found it, and it was supposedly the Gros Michel, however, flavor chemists say it's unlikely to be true. A few people say the Gros Michel has a slightly artificial taste, but I suspect that's only because it doesn't taste exactly like a Cavendish.

I was taught these went extinct🤯

I'm so happy that in 2023 I can sit. eat some macaroni, and watch a guy eat banana and tell me how banana-y it is. Life is good. I don't need much.

Straight up disney style banana

Oh that’s what they look like! I never knew the name for them but I’ve eaten these all the time when my family would visit Laos

I would love for you to do a ‘Top Banana’ episode where you countdown to the best banana 🍌 (top 10)

If the banana still has a sour taste, it is underripe. When fully ripe, the Gros Michelle taste very sweet with a strong banana smell. I lived in an area where Gros Michelle is still available, I do not eat Cavendish because of its’ bland taste.

Alguien mas vino por "Me agarran acá laaaaburando"

Bananas that haven't been gassed like our grocery store kind are better to get green because they will ripen off the tree perfectly fine. I think it's one of the few fruits that continues to ripen correctly once cut.

I am really interested in breading a banana that has it seed in the skin. So if any on has seen a banana that has good in line grouping. Then with breading practice it could be moved the peel,. So when the peel is pulled off the seed will come with it. This will speed up the breeding of new varieties bananas.

Maybe one day they can reintroduce a variety of grows Michelle that is resistant maybe a super fruit version who knows it could happen

No wonder they were so popular, you can eat them over such a wide ripeness range.

Gracias por tanto Damian Kuc

Never did I think I would watch a review for a banana...but here we are 🍌

Even cavendish has green skin without processing when rippening

Hearing the traffic outside brings me home. Man I miss not living in a subdivision

Thank you for the helpful review.

6 years ago, this was the first video I've seen of yours, and I've been subscribed ever since

“He wants yellow ripe, bananas! Get a load of this guy!”

I'm so curious to known what you did when the lady laughed at you? Did you stand there and take it? Did you tell her she was rude? Or did you have it recorded?

que grande damian, mirá donde me hiciste caer

Like si venis del video del Damian Kuc

I'm from fort pierce florida, and my grandmother had a large patch of banana plants in her back yard. They were tiny little things but tasted amazing. I'm not sure what kind they were but they died off years ago. In her yard anyways. Btw love the channel.

Thanks for sharing! You're a pleasure to listen to

Min 6:00 come la banana y da su opinión, de nada ;)

Estoy acá por damian kuc iwal

I am at home eating a donut shaped necterine called Esther. It is so sweet and plump.

This man ate a banana in front of a camera... what a legend

This is the variety of banana peel that Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton slipped upon for laughs

Damian Kuc?

In L'île Maurice they have these beautiful little bananas called banane zinzli. They're incredibly delicious and have a caramel flavour. Those are my favourite bananas.

"Everybody point and laugh at the yellow banana eating man!"

Thanks for this!

If I understand correctly, the Gros-Michel was a very good variety to invent the North american banana split. Usable yellow and green makes it a good candidate for its longer shelf period. Next, whatever yellow or green, with all that ice cream around it the customer can easily overcome the difference in taste by leaning it on the cold of the dish added to the effectiveness of cold to decrease taste buds efficiency. I love banana split 55 to 50 years ago in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) and then got over it.

I can not believe you asked for a ripe banana in Malaysia!! No wonder everyone laughed at you. - I was in stitches over here too. Thanks for the laugh sir.

What is the best type of banana you have tasted, if it's not the gros michel?

Gotta be one of my absolute favorite banana varieties! Omg!

We didn't learn out lesson. Now the Cavendish is about to die out

Dude just found your channel I love you

So when the Gros Michelle got decimated did that mean they all did or were there some left?

I heard that this tastes way more like banana flavour. that banana flavour comes from the gros michel. Is that true?

I would love to have a Gros Michael banana plant to grow some for making tasty sweets.

What is your favorite type of banana

What I want to know is this: Does the Gros Michel taste like artifical banana candies?

What’s the best banana variety that you’ve had?

Literally ended up here because I had no idea we use to have a different type of banana one google search later and here I am 😂

Why did I find this video about bananas so exciting lmao

I went to Mexico once and they had these short stubby yellow bananas and I had never tasted a banana so good before I hate the Cavendish ones

I read somewhere that artificial banana flavor is based on a variety of banana that's hard to find these days, at least in the US. I'll see if I can find out what variety that was, just wondering if you have ever heard anything about that.

In mexico we had two banana trees, the fruit was short and fat with a very thick peel but it was very tasty.

There may be a time when the banana will become as much of a luxury food as caviar now if the Panama disease hits the Americas.

That story you told was hilarious!😂😂

Have you tried burro bananas? I can get them sometimes in my street in Brooklyn but I’m not sure if you’ve had them before.

thats when you pull cash out of your pocket, point at them, laugh, put it back in your pocket, and walk away.

"That old lady can bite me."

Thanks: I didn't know it wasn't actually wiped out. I don't buy supermarket bananas, here in UK as they are so boring (unless microwaved with fenugreek and brown sugar), but some small greengrocers sometimes get different varieties. Best were some small but fat red finger ones that were just like eating honey! On the other hand, I had a similat experience to you, when I started buying the big 'plantains' that are sold green for cooking, and get practically given away when they turn yellow. Nobody would even believe me that they were safe to eat, but they have HUGELY more flavour than the ones sold as dessert fruit! Why anyone wants to just fill them with oil by frying them green, is beyond me, unless it is done to increase the calorie input in places where malnutrition is common.

i think i've had these i thought they were just mini bananas cause they don't label things in my local market and it was soo good. i thought they just tasted good cause it was "organic" i don't know if it was organic or not cause again nothing was labeled. burn for the regular cavendish bananas i know the non-organic ones don't taste as good as the organic ones. i buy organic produce not only cause it's healthier but the tastes better imo you can actually taste the flavor of like tomatoes for example

That must have been pretty embarrassing, she did that just because you wanted a yellow banana XD

Cool vid!

From what I learned, the Gros Michael use to be the common banana that everyone ate until the 1950's. During the 60's a major disease killed off the productions of this type of banana. Later, scientists and cultivators created the modern bananas we eat today..

what is your best kind of banana? is it the blue java? or which one? I am returning to Colombia in december after so many years.

People are very serious about banana in Thailand too, like who don't grow them sweet and nice enough will be stoned.

I live in southern California and iv seen at least 3 different types of banana in local stores

I have heard that banana flavored things (candy, popsicles, etc.) are based on the flavor of Gros Michels rather than the Cavendish and that's why they don't actually taste like what we recognize as banana in the US... not 100% sure - just something I heard somewhere.

No pude resistirme a venir a ver esto después del video de Damián, lo que lograste capo

what are your top 3 ?

My favorite ones are the small ones like 3 inches long, it is called "Senyorita".

My favourite bananas are the little red ones in South Asia and Nepal. Great flavour, nice snack.

out of curiosity you mentioned almost immediately after taking a bite of the Gros Michel that it was not the best banana you had tasted in southeast asia, what variety then would you consider to be of higher quality of better flavor? Thanks

I was under the impression that the gros michel no longer existed at all.

Sooo let's get this ball a-rollin. Who's got a cargo ship we can use?

jared just hold on to them, theyll turn yellow soon enough