Bananas are the most popular and healthiest tropical fruit that offers great taste and nutrition.
They come in different colors, sizes, and firmness but are recognized by their curved, elongated shape, starchy flesh, and rind. There are several tasty Banana varieties that cultivated trough different countries.
Top 10 Banana Varieties
It’s fascinating to learn about new varieties of this fruit that you never knew existed. Here are ten different types of it you might want to try.
1. Cavendish
The Cavendish banana is your “typical” banana variety that found at the local grocery store or farmer’s market.
They are slightly sweet and have a creamy texture. They have various stages of ripening, from green to yellow, to yellow with brown spots.
They’re grown all across Central America, and their production is essential to the economies in these areas.
We are one of the Iranian Cavendish Banana Importer.
2. Lady Finger
Lady Finger, also known as baby banana, are thinner than the more common Cavendish and have a cigar-like shape.
They don’t turn brown as quickly when they’re cut so they’re ideal for adding to fruit salads or desserts.
They grow up to 5 inches long and are roughly half an inch in diameter. Lady Finger have thin, bright yellow skins that will develop dark flecks when fully ripe. The fruit has a creamy consistency, with a sweeter flavor than common one.
3. Plantain
Plantains are a subgroup of bananas that are referred to as cooking bananas.
They are usually larger and tougher than common version of this fruit, with much thicker skin. They may be green, yellow, or very dark brown.
Plantains are starchier than banana and not very sweet when green. When ripe, they are sweeter and become more so when cooked.
4. Red Banana
As their name suggests, Red bananas have a reddish-purple skin.
Some are smaller and plumper than the common Cavendish, others much larger. When it is ripe, The flesh is cream to light pink in color.
They are much sweeter and softer than Cavendish one. They also have a slight raspberry flavor that makes them absolutely irresistible.
Red one have more nutrients than yellow ones. They are endemic to India and Southeast Asia. Also grown in many areas like the Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.
5. Pisang Raja
Pisang Raja ( also called Pisang Goreng and Latundan ) is a Southeast-Asian street snack popular in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Featuring a yellow to orange color, Almost no starchiness when ripe and they taste like honey-flavored custard with a smooth and creamy consistency. Also They have a slightly acidic, apple-like flavor.
They’re slightly smaller than Cavendish Banana, averaging four to six inches in length.
6. Burro Bananas
The Burro banana is occasionally sold under the name chunky banana as it is stubbier and more of a square shape than the common one.
Its peel is a rich, vivid, dark green that turns deep yellow with characteristic black spots when ripe.
When young, the flesh of Burro have a lemon, apple and tangy taste, which makes them one of the most unique types of bananas. As the fruit matures, the yellow flesh is soft on the outside with a slightly crisp textured center.
They are available year-round from Mexico.
7. Barangan
Barangan is a type of it that is very well known as dessert banana.
Yellow with small black dots, the Barangan has a sweet, mild taste.
The flesh is white with no seeds. It’s a popular variety and is eaten as a dessert in many regions across the tropics.
8. Blue Java
Blue Java bananas are also known as the ice cream banana due to their sweet vanilla flavor and extreme creaminess.
The fruit bunches are small, bearing seven to nine hands. exhibit a characteristic silvery blue color when unripe. The fruit turn a pale yellow when ripe, with white creamy flesh.
These grow in humid and sunny places in Asia like Fiji, the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
While the classic banana varieties that we know need heat and are grown in tropical places, the Blue Java is more resistant. It can grow in temperatures as low as -7°C!
9. Manzano
The Manzano Banana is sweeter and about half the size of Cavendish.
They’re sometimes called the apple banana because of their apple-like flavor when immature. When fully ripe, they have a more tropical, pineapple flavor.
They’re grown in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Manzano are short and chubby with thick yellow skins that turn completely black when ripe.
10. Goldfinger
The Goldfinger banana was first grown in Honduras by a team of scientists as a pest-resistant banana.
It was developed after a program of conventional hybridization with the gene pool of more than 800 different cultivators of this fruit from Southeast Asia.
Goldfinger can be cooked when green and eaten raw once fully ripe.
The fruit has an apple flavor. It’s similar to the Cavendish, with its eventual aim to replace the more susceptible-to-disease variety.
EXIM Asian International Trading Group is one of the main importers and distributors of fresh fruit with highest quality in Iran. We are the main distributor of Fresh Fruits including Banana for the Iran markets. We are importing Banana from India, Philippines and Ecuador.
If you are a supplier and distributor of banana varieties from India, Ecuador or Philippines, we are glad and ready to start a business with you.
Summary Table
Types of Dessert Bananas | Characteristics | Uses |
|---|---|---|
Cavendish | Smooth and yellow skin, Light yellow flesh | Eating raw, Making salads and desserts |
Lady Finger | Small, Honey-like sweet | Eating raw, Making salads and desserts |
Plantain | Green when unripe, Yellow when medium ripe, Very dark brown when ripe | Cooking |
Red | Reddish-purple skin, White or cream flesh | Eating raw, Making salads and desserts |
Pisang Raja | Yellow to orange skin, Custardy flavor with well-balanced sweetness and acidity | Eating raw, Cooking |
Burro | Square shape, Lemony flavor, Dark green that turns deep yellow when ripe | Making desserts, Puddings, Smoothies and pies |
Barangan | Seed-free, Sweet | Eating raw |
Blue Java | Blue when unripe, Pale yellow when mature | Eating raw and cooking |
Manzano | Small, Taste like apples and strawberries | Making pies, Bread, Pancakes, Smoothies, Waffles, Puddings and Fritters |
Goldfinger | Apple-like sweet, Resistant to wind, Cold weather and diseases | Eating raw, Making salads and ice-cream |
