Banana memories

Well it's been about a week and a day since I planted my banana seeds and there is still no sign of cotyledon. I'm trying not to worry that there may not be bananas in Ohio after all and focus on other things, such as how yummy bananas are on cereal.

Yesterday was my Grampa Baechle's 93 birthday. He died this past October but I celebrated his birthday by eating his favorite breakfast.  Every morning for as long as I can remember, Grampa would get out the biggest bowl in the kitchen (as my dad would say, "next size comes on wheels") and make himself a brimming bowl of oat bran topped with sliced banana. It had never really occurred to me until recently that I should try oat bran, but once I realized that I had never eaten it I went to the store in search of some. One of my favorite brands, Bob's Red Mill, carried it and I found it in the organic aisle in the grocery store (the aisle usually reserved for looking at, not shopping in and where I dream of one day being rich enough to purchase from).

So yesterday I got up a little earlier than usual so I would have time, made oat bran on the stove and ate it with a banana on top (though the size of the bowl I used may not have been quite up to Grampa's standards). It was quite tasty and can see why he would have enjoyed eating it so frequently. I wonder what he would think of my new endeavor to grow bananas indoors. I think he would most likely remark that it was a "slick" idea.

Happy Birthday Grampa!

Palate Practice

Still no sprouts in my banana greenhouse, but in the meantime I've decided to investigate other types of bananas available at the grocery store. I regularly shop at Giant Eagle and this week I made sure to inspect the small selection of banana varieties at the end of the banana shelf. 

My grocery store offers a LOT of bananas...all Cavendish:

They do, to their defense, offer 3 other varieties.  This week I decided to try the Red Banana.  Obviously, as you can tell from the name, the skin is red and they are a bit smaller than "regular" bananas. The sign claims they taste sweet with a hint of raspberry.

Samantha and I picked out 2 red bananas and hurried home to try one. I quickly learned that I have no idea how to tell if Red bananas are ripe and therefore had a really hard time peeling it.  Once I got it peeled Samantha and I each took half to try. Not quite what I was expecting. Not only was the banana not very sweet, there was also no hint of raspberry and more or less the best way to sum up the taste is tasteless.  I think it was not ripe enough. There is still a second chance though. I've decided to let the other one sit for a while and see if time improves the taste and consistency.  I'd hate to think that my taste preference is for the Cavendish only because there are also many other varieties of banana!  (Though most are not widely available, if at all, in the United States.)

How planting banana seeds led to my personal confirmation that "this is a small world after all"

Behold my mini greenhouse newly filled with dirt and six banana seeds planted in a neat row down the middle.  First I had to "create" dirt from a hard disk that came in the kit. I soaked the disk in water and stirred until it became actual dirt (pretty amazing to watch) and then I planted half the seeds that came in the packet. Samantha was against planting all the seeds because she wants to save them as a backup if the first ones don't grow...how pessimistic. The kit's directions advised placing the newly planted seeds by an East-facing window in order to receive the most sunlight.  Therefore, I put my little greenhouse in our sunroom on my mother's fancy cake stand so that it would be higher and therefore closer to the sun (I want my bananas to have the best, and most stylish, chance at life!) Now all that's left to do is wait.  Supposedly it can take up to 2 weeks for sprouts to form, but once they start growing they are expected to grow a foot in the first month!

In the meantime I have discovered some interesting facts about my banana tree.  By reading the seed packet I learned that the common (botanical) name for the banana tree is Musa Velutina.  Having never heard this name before I naturally Googled it.  Apparently the Musa Velutina, according to wikipedia (if that is a credible source...I plan to do deeper research in the future but I am only in the preliminary stages of banana farming) it is a pink banana that grows to be 3 inches long! Bananas can be pink?!! I did not know this. This pink banana is also full of seeds that can chip a tooth but if you are brave enough to eat one nevertheless they are quite sweet.

The seed packet (a product of DuneCraft) says that my banana tree originated in the jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I'm not sure how one packet of seeds could originate from three different jungles but that perplexity is nothing compared to the fact that the seeds were actually packaged in Cleveland, Ohio!  Apparently DuneCraft operates right here in my hometown!  Upon further investigation I learned that not only does the company DuneCraft operate right here in Cleveland but it was started by a guy with the last name Cleveland:  Grant Cleveland! Apparently he also went to John Carroll University! My world is getting smaller and smaller!

In order to keep from infringing on copyright laws (because I can get carried away with the paraphrasing) I am including links to two news articles and DuneCraft's website that I discovered during my investigation:

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/11/clevelands_fastgrowing_dunecra.html

http://www.anbmedia.com/catching-up-with/2011/02/catching-up-with-grant-cleveland-ceo-and-president-of-dunecraft/

http://www.dunecraft.com/index.html

This investigation is far from over as I plan to continue learning about both DuneCraft and Cleveland (person and city) and their respective connections to bananas.

In the box

For my birthday this year Samantha bought me something completely unexpected.  Before the celebration she warned not to expect much from her because her purchases were on back-order, therefore when she handed me a wrapped box I was really surprised.  It was the last present to be opened and inside the plain cardboard box was a kit for growing bananas! I think it goes without saying that I was ecstatic. My mind quickly imagined a whole new world...one in which I could wake up in the morning and pick a banana from my very own home-grown banana tree. Samantha brought me back down to earth when she told me that my new tree would probably not actually grow fruit, however my zealousness was rejuvenated when I read the back of the box: "Banana tree can grow up to 6 feet in the first year!"  My overwhelming enthusiasm for this phenomenon was the polar opposite that of my mother, whose face had quickly contorted into a painful fake smile. "Where are you going to put that?" was her question.  But nothing so technical as where I would put a 6 foot tall banana tree was bothering me.  I was in my own personal tropical paradise, hand delivered to my northeastern Ohio residence, in the middle of winter. Nothing could be better than that.

Banana Fact:  According to the Banana Bonanza growing kit by DuneCraft, "the banana is not actually a tree, but the world's largest herb."