Red Banana
In an agricultural fair that was taking place in Ho Chi Minh City lately, many visitors expressed their excitement when they saw a bunch of red bananas for the first time in the real world.
However, the sales staff noticed that, due to the rare color of this type of banana, its price points started very high, about 40,000 VND/ kg, not 300,000 VND/ Kg as advertised online.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Ma Duong, the owner of the bunch of red bananas which were showcased in the fair, said that he was selling this red banana variety for 100,000 VND/ tree in Phu Rieng district (Binh Phuoc province).
Unripe Red Bananas will have a beautiful purple color which is suitable to be showcased as a decoration. Extending the growing area of Red Bananas must be considered carefully due to the extremely high price point of this banana variety
“I have grown this banana variety for years. Everyone loves it for its beautiful color as it is purple when it’s unripe, and it will turn into prune once it has been ripe. Also, it tastes delicious. I don’t sell transplanted baby bananas.
Instead of that, I sell ones extracted from the mother plant in the traditional way, which is the reason why they grow easily. As Red bananas are a new variety of plant with a vague output, I have not promoted the cultivation of the plant yet.” According to Mr. Duong,
The rumor of the high price point of the Red bananas is mainly armed to sell high-priced seedlings
According to some banana import-export companies in Dong Nai. With the seedling’s price being up to 100,000 – 200,000 VND/ seedling while the price of a tissue-transplant banana tree is just 12,000 VND/tree, Red bananas have horticultural and entertaining uses.
With new fruit varieties and the pretty small consumer market, it is a great idea to only invest when acknowledging a reliable output.
Green Cavendish banana in Khoai Chau, Hung Yen province.
Vietnam has many banana varieties. Because it is easy to grow, it is found everywhere across the country.
There are diverse varieties of bananas from the North to the South of Vietnam: Cavendish bananas, Nam Wah bananas, Ngu bananas, Moc bananas, ripe bananas, Da Huong bananas, and more, which have different features in shapes, cultivation time, and cultivation methods.
It has many advantages, such as high price points, stable output, and easy growth. The Green Cavendish banana tree has many valuable uses: the banana used as food, banana leaves used for food packaging, banana stem and stalk used as byproducts for livestock.
This specialty has a beautiful look with big fruits (180-200gr/ fruit), and delicious tastes. It is grown in a huge amount in Tu Dan, Tan Chau, Dong Ninh, Dai Tap, Ham Tu commune, in Hung Yen province with the average yield ranging 35 – 50 tons/hectare/ year.
Laba Bananas in Dalat, Lam Dong
Laba banana (King Banana), is a famous endangered specialty of Dalat – Lam Dong. This rare banana used to be popular and be on people’s favorite lists for its delicious and sweet taste, along with its soft texture.
In recorded history, laba banana was used to serve Bao Dai King, the court, and French officials. Since then, the Laba banana has been named the King Banana.
Nowadays, thanks to the breeding technology in Laba bananas by culture methods and careful research in soil conditions, Laba banana is very easy to grow these days, as it can adapt to the conditions in Dalat, Mang Den, and Northern provinces.
However, due to the different conditions of each place, although Laba banana is very easy to grow, no place reaches the yield and the quality of the fruits as well as Lam Dong.
If this banana variety is grown in other places, the result will be less-delicious banana fruit than Lam Dong owing to the differences in soil and climate conditions in different places.
Laba banana is an elongated, slightly curved shape. The bunch stalk is small. The banana fruits are folding inward the bunch, making them have the shape of the crescent moon.
The ripe banana fruit has a smooth yellow color, delicious taste, and soft texture. Laba banana was once used to serve the Bao Dai King and the imperial officials.
Cau Ke district, Tra Vinh province
This banana fruit is 35 – 40 cm long, and 0.5 – 1.2 kg weight. At first glance, many people are surprised by the fact that this “Ta qua” banana (giant banana) is grown in Cau Ke district, Tran Vinh province.
This giant banana does not go through the blooming process to fruit as the regular ones. With each bunch, there are 10-20 fruits of the size of our wrist.
Because “Ta qua” banana does not produce much fruit, in the past, people grew this variety of bananas in their garden with low numbers to serve their own family, and to use for worship; they rarely sold it. Like Sap bananas, Ta Qua bananas cannot be eaten without being cooked.
“It takes about 8 – 9 months for a banana tree to fruit. There are only 1 – 2 hands in a bunch. Because it will be ripe very quickly, we do not dare to import huge numbers and stock them.”, said Ms. Nguyen Thu Trang – staff in the Western Region’s specialties store in Vinh Long.
Because Ta Qua banana is soft, sweet, delicious, good-smelling, it can be used as an ingredient in many appetizing dishes, such as curry, hot pot, Gia Cay (“fake” dog meat), and more, but the most enjoyable dish that is loved by both adults and children is the boiled bananas.
According to the experience of the forerunners, to boil Ta Qua bananas, it is worth paying attention to the starch content of the bananas. You need to tie each fruit with a string, as you do with Banh Tet, so that the banana peel is not cracked, and the water does not have chances to penetrate the bananas making them pale and mushy.
Boiling water is needed to cover the bananas. And then, you will place a bamboo board and stones on top, so that the bananas won’t turn grey due to the latex.
Keep boiling for an hour and a half, take the pot off, cool down the bananas, slice them and enjoy. Or you can chop the bananas into small cubes and use them as the ingredients in your duck porridge if you want the bananas to taste differently.
Gia Huong banana in Dong Nai
Gia Huong bananas are very long and curved. They turn green once they are ripe. They are exported to European countries, France in particular. As Gia Huong bananas are rich in nutrients, they are really good for bodybuilders.
Among countries that export bananas into the EU market, Vietnam makes a very small proportion, but the price point of Vietnamese bananas is soaring highly.
Specifically, in the first 11 months in early 2020, Vietnam banana which is exported into the EU market is 3.192,9 Eur/ton on average, up to 16.4% in the comparison with the same period in 2019.
The average import price of bananas from Vietnam to Eu is much higher than other suppliers, for example, Ecuador is 605 Eur/ ton; Columbia is 588 Eur/ ton, Costa Rica is 645.7% Eur/ton, etc.
Despite the high price, the importing amount of Vietnamese bananas to the EU drops with a reduced rate of 26.7% in comparison with the amount imported in November 2019.
The import number only reaches 14 tons. With this small quantity, Vietnam ranks 55th among other banana suppliers in the EU. Meanwhile, bananas are still loved and consumed widely by people in the EU. It is the most imported product in these countries.
