Blue bananas aren’t just something out a rhyming children’s book or anything, they actually exist in real life. And apparently, they taste the same as vanilla ice cream. They go by several names such as Blue Java bananas, Ice Cream bananas, Hawaiian bananas, or Ney Mannan. These bananas are hardy, tolerant of the cold, and supposedly have the same consistency as ice cream – and taste like vanilla custard too.
Unlike the normal bananas everyone is used to with the yellow skins, these blue java bananas have a silvery blue peel when they ripen. Sounds much prettier than the typical banana.
According to Live Love Fruit, the blue banana originated in Southeast Asia before spreading to Hawaii, Fiji, the Philippines, and Central America. However, finding these special bananas in the US is much harder than you think.
While flying directly to Hawaii is one option if you can afford it, these bananas can also be purchased in bushels online while they’re in season. One vendor, Miami Fruit, is known for selling a variety of tropical fruits such as jackfruit, durian, mangosteen, and blue java bananas. You can pre-order yourself a 10-13 pound shipment for the 2020 season.
Now if you’re more of a DIY person, you can try growing your own banana tree. Unlike most other tropical fruit trees, the blue java banana can actually thrive in USDA plant hardiness zones 8-10 – meaning the states of California, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina are prime places for planting.
And if you’re worried about how long you’ll have to wait to reap the benefits of your hard work, you will be happy to know, as told by NovoTaste, the tree begins to produce fruit within 9 months – making it a very short wait for homegrown bananas. When the tree is fully grown, the tree will be 15-20 feet high and require loads of watering and fertilizing.
If you do manage to get the fruit, it is highly recommended that these bananas get eaten plan in order to really savor the flavor and texture. But if you get them in a stockpile you can do a lot with them such as putting them in smoothies, using them for ice cream toppings, or just dip them in chocolate and freeze. There is even “nice-cream” that can be made with these bananas by lightly blending them in a food processor for a couple of seconds.
Make sure you don’t forget to share with others.