......but we actually do!
We were given a Cuban Red banana plant when we lived at the Inn and planted it in the backyard. That plant grew and gave us fruit and had a couple of little keiki (baby) plants coming on each side. When we moved from the Inn (the Inn burned down 11 years ago yesterday), we dug up the keiki and brought them to the property where we live now.
The Cuban Reds take a while to grow. After several years, the two plants had grown quite a bit, but a big downpour washed them down the gulch behind our house...we thought we had lost them, but a few months later a little keiki was spotted growing where the others had been planted. This plant took ages to grow and produce, but we got a small bunch and a new keiki came up from that one and never did much until this year.
There are two varieties of Cuban Reds, a dwarf and a tall. Ours is tall. According to a website about the different varieties of bananas that grow in Hawaii:
Cuban Red, Tall: A very ornamental, maroon-colored banana (plant and fruit). All the Cuban bananas have a special taste. They're a thick banana, yet they have a delicate, light feeling to them. This variety is on the tall side (15-20 ft.) and takes up to three years to make a bunch of bananas on a shoot, making them one of the least productive bananas. Nonetheless, they're worth having around for the beauty and taste.
Finally after several years, I spotted the plant throwing out a bloom....it has taken several months for the rack of bananas to grow and develop into nice rounded fruit, so today was cutting day.
A banana plant produces only one rack of fruit and dies after harvest, so with tall trees, the best way to harvest is to chop it down.
Anthony cut it down with a machete and the tall California grass, which is the bane of my garden's existance, actually acted as a cushion for the rack to fall on.
We will be enjoying this in many different ways.... I confess to having never eaten one raw, as I grew up in Cuba where they are usually treated as cooking bananas or plantains, but several friends have told me they love them raw, so we will try them this time...I also love to bake or fry them, so will be doing some of both!
The rack is now hanging from the rafters of our back lanai...the window behind it is the one in our office.
Can't wait!
