On bananas
June 10, 2024•282 words
One of the things I love about India is its diversity - and what tastier representation of diversity than that of bananas.
Growing up in South India, I took all the different varieties of bananas for granted. Only when I was exposed to years of monoculture Cavendish bananas in Europe did I truly begin to appreciate what I had.
Below is a table of some varieties I know with their local names for reference.
| Cavendish banana | Most common variety found in supermarkets in US/EU. | Generic banana, paccha baaLe hannu |
| Dwarf Cavendish banana | paccha baaLe hannu | |
| Musa AB cultivar / Musa sp. var. elakki baaLe | South Indian indigenous variety | Elakki baLe HaNNu - closely related to Lady Finger bananas. |
| N/A | rasa baaLe hannu | |
| Nendran variety | Nendran baaLe hannu | |
| N/A | Kaadu baaLe (similar to pacca baaLe but slightly sour) |
| Photos | |
|---|---|
 |
Kari baaLe |
 |
Chandra baaLe |
 |
Vat baaLe |
Three different varieties of bananas in the above picture with the smallest one being elakki baaLe (also in bunch). I could only find one reference to the elakki baaLe hannu where they refer to it as simply Musa sp. var. elakki baaLe. This is my favourite variety, it's sweet and flavourful in a way that hardly compares to the Cavenish variety.
I hope to expand this table as I learn more about the different varieties some day.