All bananas are essentially clones as they have no seeds and banana trees are propagated from offshoots.
In the 1950s a fungus caused massive die off of banana trees leading to the effective death of the entire Gros Michel cultivar. We have overcome this set back by introducing the Canvendish cultivar which at the time was resistant to the fungus and was a commercially viable plant.
We now face a resurgence of the fungus which has found a way to infect the Canvendish cultivars. Being clones, they have no way to develop a defense as we can’t interbreed the banana plants to produce resistance to the fungus. This time round we don’t have a readily replaceable cultivar thats commercially viable if the Canvendish cultivar fails.
Banana-flavored candy was not intended to mimic the taste of a formerly popular variety of banana. It tastes different from bananas because it is mainly flavored with only one of the many flavor compounds a banana has, isoamyl acetate, that is also found in a wide variety of fruits and fermented beverages.
I couldn’t find the banana part on the link you sent (on mobile so hard to search) but if it’s true I stand corrected :) I’ll check the link when I get to a computer and if needed I’ll edit my misinformation post
Why wouldn’t we be able to grow bananas in 15 years?
Banana Blight/Panama Disease.
All bananas are essentially clones as they have no seeds and banana trees are propagated from offshoots.
In the 1950s a fungus caused massive die off of banana trees leading to the effective death of the entire Gros Michel cultivar. We have overcome this set back by introducing the Canvendish cultivar which at the time was resistant to the fungus and was a commercially viable plant.
We now face a resurgence of the fungus which has found a way to infect the Canvendish cultivars. Being clones, they have no way to develop a defense as we can’t interbreed the banana plants to produce resistance to the fungus. This time round we don’t have a readily replaceable cultivar thats commercially viable if the Canvendish cultivar fails.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_disease
For reference the Gros Michel is still grown on a boutique scale and a 5 lbs box of Gros Michel bananas costs US$127 excluding shipping.
Also worth mentioning is that candy banana taste is based on Gros Michel which is why it doesnt taste like standard bananas
Akschwelally this is on the Wikipedia list of common misconceptions
I couldn’t find the banana part on the link you sent (on mobile so hard to search) but if it’s true I stand corrected :) I’ll check the link when I get to a computer and if needed I’ll edit my misinformation post
It’s the last bullet under the Arts and Culture : Food and Cooking subsection.