I wonder which kind of banana is your favorite and how you do you prefer it - green-ish, yellow, or maybe perfectly sweet and ripe with some spots on it? Did you know there are 1,000+ varieties of bananas? I don't know about you, but where I grew up there was only one kind of banana which I now know is called Cavendish.
I loved them until the day we went to Costa Rica years ago and tasted what I believed to be a real,
true banana and I never ate another banana in the USA again. It was tiny, plump, sweet, and creamy; unlike anything I had ever tried before.
That banana I tasted came from a really cool organic coffee farm that produced shade-grown organic coffees and it was the plant that created the shade for those delicious coffee beans.
Fast forward to 2015 when we arrived on our property here in Panama. We knew to immediately start planting as many bananas as we could and now, 6 years later we have more than we can eat. They are fun to share and when dehydrated make for a great snack on our adventures.
These plants which are considered an herb, can produce up to 150+ bananas per plant which are actually a berry. It takes about 10 months to produce a bunch of bananas here which is done entirely organically and each plant only produces once then becomes compost for the others.
What inspired me to write about this beautiful berry, is that originally, the Gros Michel was the most popular variety of banana until the 1950's when it was wiped out by a fungal disease called "Panama Disease" around the world. As a result, the world changed to selling the Cavendish which is what you are likely most familiar with. Now, that variety is widely under threat of a new fungal strain causing scientists to genetically modify the fruit to resist the deadly fungus.
Sounds kinda freaky!
Thankfully here at our little Eco Resort, we have several varieties producing now including that plump, sweet little nugget. We eat millions (a little dramatic) of bananas here because they are amazing and we haven't tired of them yet and nor will you. So, if you want to try the best bananas of your life, WE GOT YOU once again!
This is where you come in: we need your help eating all these bananas so, c'mon down!
Your Friends in Morrillo,
Cari and Ryan Mackey
Owners and Hosts
Morrillo Beach Eco Resort
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