Damn 'Bananers!'

[off-the-grid]

Ok, someone tell me what the secret is?
You see all these photos of cruising boats with HUGE bunches of bananas.

Yet I go to the store and buy a tiny little bunch of the most unripe bananas I can find, and they're going bad within a few days.

Or is it BS and those giant bunches are just for the photo on the blog?

[David M]

Yup...that makes me bananas too.

Besides, bananas on boats are bad luck.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by David M

Besides, bananas on boats are bad luck.

WOW! So are you from the NE originally? Diving around here for the last few years I always heard that. Some captains will violently flip out on a customer over even anything banana flavored.

Then, when I got this whole crazy, move on a boat and sail off into the sunset plan, I was shocked at how common they are on cruising boats, and how man sailors never heard that one before.

Maybe you're right. Simple solution, no bananas! Maybe that's the real route of my dinghy engine problems.

[svHyLyte]

Bananas, still on the stalk and never refrigerated will last a fair amount of time. Moreover, stalks typically have fruit that is at various stages of development which continues even after the stalks have been severed. Never-the-less, once the ripening begins, it happens quickly, leaving one with rather a great deal of Bananas to eat quickly, or Banana Bread to make. When we were traveling in Martinique in the mid-'80's I though buying a stalk of Bananas was a great idea becuase we liked them and they were so inexpensive. In short order we'd had Bananas about every way possible, fresh, raw, fried, dried, mashed with cream, in salads, on bread with mayonaise, Bananas 'n sweet peas, Bananas with lime and lime marinated fish, lobster etc., frozen with chocolate syrup and of course Banana Bread. Never-the-less, we still left a trail of discarded over-ripe Bananas in our wakes and within short order I could not stand the smell of Bananas!

FWIW...

[off-the-grid]

Good thing I ordered that hand cranked blender! Banana smoothies anyone?

[JanetGroene]

Originally Posted by David M

Yup...that makes me bananas too.

Besides, bananas on boats are bad luck.

Start using bananas immediately by cooking green bananas as a vegetable. They are great boiled in stews and casseroles and can also be sliced thin and fried as per plantains. Enjoy ripe bananas until they are just too ripe, then use the rest to make banana bread. If you you don't have a freezer to freeze banana bread, boil down the over-ripe ones to make banana butter. It can be canned like apple butter. Good luck!

[boden36]

We usually have a bunch of bananas hanging on our back verandah at home. You can slow down the "whole bunch ripens at once" syndrome by cutting individual bananas out of the bunch as they begin to turn. Ripe bananas put out a gas which speeds up the process.
Our banana bunches are always swarming with little cockroaches so I would be wary about having one on board without a thorough dunking.
Regards, Richard.

[Ex-Calif]

Here's a nice collection of seafaring superstitions.

In regards to bananas I subscribe to the spider theory...

http://www.failedsuccess.com/index.p...sea_fishermen/

[easterly38]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Bananas, still on the stalk and never refrigerated will last a fair amount of time. Moreover, stalks typically have fruit that is at various stages of development which continues even after the stalks have been severed. Never-the-less, once the ripening begins, it happens quickly, leaving one with rather a great deal of Bananas to eat quickly, or Banana Bread to make. When we were traveling in Martinique in the mid-'80's I though buying a stalk of Bananas was a great idea becuase we liked them and they were so inexpensive. In short order we'd had Bananas about every way possible, fresh, raw, fried, dried, mashed with cream, in salads, on bread with mayonaise, Bananas 'n sweet peas, Bananas with lime and lime marinated fish, lobster etc., frozen with chocolate syrup and of course Banana Bread. Never-the-less, we still left a trail of discarded over-ripe Bananas in our wakes and within short order I could not stand the smell of Bananas

FWIW...

Your last name isn't Gump, is it?

[Boracay]

We are major banana consumers. If either of us goes too long without there's gunna be trouble.

What we've found is that some varieties last longer than others, so we normally buy a few hands of Sugars (or similar). The thin skinned ones are sweetest but most of the short stubby varieties last well.

The really big green ones tend to be the cooking variety. We've found that unless one has local knowledge on how to cook them it's hard to get a good result.

The ones to avoid are the long commercially grown Cavendish. They are picked green and gassed with ethylene to force ripening. We've found they tend to be overripe within a few days.

[osirissail]

With any fruit in skin, soaking them in bleach/water for 5 minutes kills the surface bugs that promote rotting. Specifically with bananas you can put them into the refrigerator and they will keep for a few extra days. The outer skin turns black but the inside fruit stays unspoiled.