What's up with bananas

[Bob Who]

Past 6- 8 weeks all the bananas I've been able to get seem to have a fibrous core to them. The riper the fruit the stiffer the core. Makes no difference if the bananas are conventional or organic. This does not meet with spousal approval so I find myself filleting bananas for her. Have tried all the sources available here and now it's all of the bananas have it. Have you noticed this? Anyone know why this might be?

 

[Tom L.]

I've never had a ripe banana with this problem. You're sure you haven't been getting plantains? I've had these only a few times, but they didn't have fibrous cores either. I wonder if your store's produce section or supplier made some sort of error? I don't know I I could tell a banana from a plantain just by looks if it wasn't labeled.

 

[Chryssie]

I noticed something like this a few weeks ago with "regular" bananas but haven't seen it since. I don't remember if I got them at Walmart of Publix. Maybe there was a weird batch circulating around.

 

[silva]

I hate bananas, but I do remember getting some a while back that had like a woody core through them. I found potatoes like that too

 

[Bob Who]

I've never had a ripe banana with this problem. You're sure you haven't been getting plantains? I've had these only a few times, but they didn't have fibrous cores either. I wonder if your store's produce section or supplier made some sort of error? I don't know I I could tell a banana from a plantain just by looks if it wasn't labeled.

No question, they are bananas. Plantains are usually larger, the outward appearance is slightly different from the Cavendish as they ripen, but one sure way to know is plantains are much more difficult to peel. We also buy plantains on occasion.

I first notice this back in November as one of the stores here had bananas for .39/ pound as a special. We bought them and that's when we first encountered it. Thought it was a fluke, so next week we bought more and the same thing. Might explain why they were so cheap. Switched to a different store's supply which has a different company's sticker.. about 1/2 had the core. The following week they all did. Went to Walmart and tried the organic bananas which were fine. Everything was fine for the next two weeks, now those have about 50% cores.

I suspect that they aren't all coming from the same source because they have different branding. Dole, Del Monte, and what ever the Walmart ones were. I don't think Dole and Del Monte are the same , so I am assuming where the bananas are grown are at least different plantations. In our area there are 2 different chains having a store in each of the two towns that are close enough to do our weekly shopping, and one Walmart, the next closest ones being 50 miles away.

I know there is some disease problem with the Cavendish variety, but I don't know about adverse growing conditions that might be responsible.

 

[Raven]

I've noticed bananas have been of very poor quality the last few months. It doesn't seem to matter what supermarket I order from.

I blame Brexit.

 

[Brian W]

I blame Brexit.

I can't think of a more worthy scapegoat!

 

[Raven]

The ‘banana pandemic’ destroying the world’s favourite fruit

 

[Bob Who]

I've noticed bananas have been of very poor quality the last few months. It doesn't seem to matter what supermarket I order from.

I blame Brexit.

Do you know the country of origin for the bananas? Here I think all the ones I've seen recently are labeled as coming from Guatemala.

 

[VeganRachel]

Past 6- 8 weeks all the bananas I've been able to get seem to have a fibrous core to them. The riper the fruit the stiffer the core. Makes no difference if the bananas are conventional or organic. This does not meet with spousal approval so I find myself filleting bananas for her. Have tried all the sources available here and now it's all of the bananas have it. Have you noticed this? Anyone know why this might be?

Hi, I buy organic bananas and have not noticed them to be any different than a year ago, no fibrous core. I get them either from
Walmart, Publix, or the local health store. However, for over 10 years I have found avocado's to be inconsistent. They look fine on
the outside, but inside a sizeable percentage of them are not good and they are not overripe. I would say about 25% are greyish or rotten
and it does not matter if they are organic or not. Search on the internet and see if you find someone else mentioning the banana thing.
By the way, even though banana's appear inexpensive, my guess is the peel weighs about 1/2 of the total weight.

 

[Raven]

Do you know the country of origin for the bananas? Here I think all the ones I've seen recently are labeled as coming from Guatemala.

I don't know.

Saying that we finally bought a good batch. The bananas I bought this week from a supermarket here (Tesco) were fine.

 

[Bob Who]

Hi, I buy organic bananas and have not noticed them to be any different than a year ago, no fibrous core. I get them either from
Walmart, Publix, or the local health store. However, for over 10 years I have found avocado's to be inconsistent. They look fine on
the outside, but inside a sizeable percentage of them are not good and they are not overripe. I would say about 25% are greyish or rotten
and it does not matter if they are organic or not. Search on the internet and see if you find someone else mentioning the banana thing.
By the way, even though banana's appear inexpensive, my guess is the peel weighs about 1/2 of the total weight.

I suspect you have more and better access to produce in Florida, than I do in rural Iowa.

I know what you mean about avacados. Year before last it was late Fall and they were all bad, from every source. Stopped buying them altogether for several months.

I hadn't been able to find anything about bananas, but I'm not sure it would be anything most people might mention.

 

[Bob Who]

I don't know.

Saying that we finally bought a good batch. The bananas I bought this week from a supermarket here (Tesco) were fine.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm happy you finally got some good ones. As of last week no change here.

Only a guess on my part that the growing conditions may be the cause. I've gotten carrots that had that a totally inedible center core. With carrots though it was only two separate individual carrots, years apart.

 

[Raven]

Someone on another forum said she bought plums and they were totally tasteless. It is probably better to buy in season, but I buy bananas all year round.