North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Tom Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hello,

Here is a balanced story on the banana problem;

http://www.sciencenews.org/20030308/food.asp

          "In the meantime, Ploetz advocates that banana
          consumers get a little adventurous. U.S. markets,
          particularly those with Hispanic customers, now often carry
          several snack and cooking varieties. "There are all these
          other bananas out there—they taste great. You should try
          some," he says.

          Hamill lists some of the promising ones she's seen: a
          small, sweet one called Goldfingers; the Red Decca, which
          has creamy insides and a red skin; and one called Pacific
          Plantain, which grows to about twice the size of a typical
          supermarket banana.

          Is she worried about extinction of the banana? "Not really," she 
says.
          Banana breeding certainly is difficult, but she has 400 varieties 
of the plant
          in test tubes. What she sees in 10 or 20 years, she says, is not 
extinction
          at all, but "more diversity."

Happy eating and exploring!

Later,
Tom

"Robert H." wrote:

> I heard about this somewhere about a year ago, I am surprized that
> this has not gotten more attention in the news. Could anyone imagine
> if bannas disappeard from store shelves?
>
> ---