There are so many different elements that dictate how bananas taste. Specifically, the ratios and amounts of nonvolatile chemicals, such as sugars and acids, contribute to the flavors of bananas.
Neuroscientist have identified over 650 olfactory ending neurons in the nose that can detect volatile molecules causing fruit scents.
While taste is fundamentally very subjective, this is perhaps why taste is a popular reason why people consume organic bananas.
So, why do healthy fruits (organically produced) always taste better when compared to other conventionally grown fruits?
There are many reasons why organic bananas taste better.
Different agricultural practices are governed by strict government laws and require ‘organic’ products to be produced free from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, antibiotics, genetic engineering or other prohibited practices, synthetic hormones, and persistent and poisonous pesticides.
The absence of these deadly chemicals and practices also allow banana tastes to grow and develop a lot more naturally, establishing more quantity and quality of the sugar of the banana, thus resulting in more sugar and therefore sweeter fruit.
How Organic Bananas Get Their Amazing Taste?
Healthy Soil
Non-organic foods are dealt with some pretty nasty chemicals that kill everything but the produce.
This includes the living organisms that give the soil nutrients required by a plant to grow.
Each time a plant has to fight for nutrients, it finds nutrient-rich soil further down and stops heading further into the soil, usually using that energy to grow fruit.
The taste of a stressed, non-organic banana would not be anything close to that of an organic banana that they were grown from rest.
The farmers, maintain good soil, so the plants can totally rely on the earth to provide all of the natural nutrients.
Interestingly, the nutrients in the soil impact the nutritional levels of the organic bananas they grow that have a tremendous impact on the taste.
No Pesticides Used
Pesticides for plant protection have been widely adopted.
Pesticides have been adopted by food producers and household consumers alike.
But do you know effect pesticides have on the flavor of fruits?
Organic fruits are virtually under constant attack from pests and blights, as pesticides cannot be used to protect them.
That might seem like a negative aspect, but that is not the case. Plants create more of their chemical defenses when they are under attack.
Those chemical defenses could be making a smell that attracts counter-attacking insects like wasps and caterpillars.
The plant may be making something toxic or repulsive to those insects or synthesizing an anti-fungal chemical.
Non-organic plants that are attacked by insects typically have lower flavor compounds and higher storage compounds because they weren’t under threat of being devoured—pesticides protected them.
Because organic plants are attacked by pests, these plants have a tendency to have a higher concentration of taste compounds and other defensive molecules including antioxidants.
The human senses of flavor and smell are derived directly from these defenses.
Ripening Process
Ripening is how bananas develop the flavor, color, quality and other textural properties we love.
Here’s what happens during the ripening process:
Bananas themselves give off small amounts of ethylene, carbon dioxide, and volatile esters.
To speed-up the overall ripening process, inorganic farmers will apply ethylene artificially.
Organic farmers are limited to only the small amounts of ethylene provided by the banana’s ripening gas emissions.
When we adjust the ethylene levels artificially, we begin to alter the normal banana ripening process, and can also disrupt the natural nutrient levels, which importantly alters how we will perceive the taste of the final ripened banana.
In regards to orthodox bananas being chemically or artificially ripened, the raw sugar levels found in chemically ripened bananas, will vary considerably lower from those found in normally ripened bananas.
Chemically ripened bananas will not taste as sweet or delicious, in direct comparison to normally ripened bananas.
Only Natural Fertilizers
Organic farming is a form of agriculture that uses natural fertilizers as a part of the overall system. A natural form of fertilizer is compost and manures from both plant and animal waste.
Natural fertilizers can have higher nutritional availability than synthetic fertilizers derived from harmful chemicals.
In that respect, organic farming is an agricultural system that regenerates, sustains, and enhances the ecological balance.
These natural fertilizers may influence the concentration of sugars and other chemicals in organic bananas and thus their taste.
No Preservatives
Taste is pretty subjective, but when it comes to tasting bananas, organic bananas are much more likely to have a fresher taste because there are no artificial preservatives included.
So, while their shelf life might be shorter, customers are getting a fresher, tastier banana.
Encourages Pollinators
Organic farming practices promote pollinators because they use healthy growth practices to maintain the necessary level of biodiversity.
Moreover, herbicides and pesticides don’t differentiate good bugs from harmful bugs; they kill them all.
Bananas are distinctive for their smell and taste because of an organic compound called isoamyl acetate.
Strangely enough, a tiny amount of isoamyl acetate is made by bee stings.
No Growth Hormones Used
Organic food develops slower and doesn’t use nitric fertilizer; which promotes fast growth.
So, taste may be more natural.
Generally, the ripening process of the fruit will have microflora in the fruit naturally. Amylase will convert the starches into sugar as the fruit ripens and grows sweeter.
For flavor to better, the fruit must be allowed to take longer to convert the starch to sugar; so it will become more concentrated sugar and the banana becomes sweeter.
Size
Organic bananas are typically smaller than inorganic ones.
This is because the plants have to defend against the natural insect predators and diseases, producing a greater number of chemical defenses.
Moreover, inorganic bananas are grown with chemical salts or minerals that dissolve in water like calcium carbide and oxytocin.
These are supposedly used in fruit for artificial ripening and fruit enlargement.
Where the bananas will absorb the nutrient so it will bloat from the salt.
While the organic bananas are smaller and less desirable than the inorganic bananas, the perhaps bigger thing is a misrepresentation of reality – bigger is not always better – A shrinking of fruit means flavor usually is on the rise.
Crop Load Management
Crop yield is a key factor when determining how much crop has been produced throughout a farming year.
Organic farming practices, all things considered, does not look to produce as many crops for increase in yield quality.
It does not seek to grow crops to increase it’s yield in a short time frame.
Instead, it’s focuses on producing sustainable field crop farming, which builds toward a healthy and environmentally safe environment to grow delicious yield food crops for consumers that enrich their minds and bodies with vitamins and minerals.
Banana trees with lower crop loads have provided better tasting bananas.
This is due mainly to the greater aroma volatiles and sugars to the banana fruit with lower crop load.
Maximizing yield often counters taste development.
Water Content
Because organic fruit has a higher dry matter and less water, there isn’t a lot of excess liquid with organic bananas.
So the cell contents that oozed out when the cell walls ruptured are usually trapped in the banana pulp.
Without the water to dilute their taste, the loss of water gives a more awesome flavor than an ‘ordinary’ banana.
That said: You get a better flavorful taste from organic bananas.
More Nutrient Content
When a fruit is squishier than other fruits of its type, it usually means it is better ripened, which generally indicates better nutrition, when compared with other fruits.
Organic bananas are going to be better in terms of nutrition than non-organic bananas because organic bananas grow from direct, healthy, rich organic earth.
Organic Bananas Are Typically Not Monocropped
Intercropping is mainly a good cropping system for organic farming because organic farming builds up soil health, and that’s a good thing.
Soils are a living organism with hundreds of types of bacteria. When you intercrop, you eventually increase the number of living organisms in the soil by using soil biology, thus lower reliance on a chemical/fertilizer treatment and less risk of disease.
In effect, organic farming seeks to restore your soil’s fertility and beneficial microbes without the use of chemicals.
This means you would eventually be enjoying something much better than a banana grown in depleted soil with chemicals, because you will have a vibrant community of soil microbes.
The more life in the soil, the more intact taste potential.
Final Thoughts
It starts with farming practices; organic farmers understand that what is put into the soil, largely determines what will come out of that soil.
They understand that it delivers the nutrients that plants require for their development.
Additionally, it encourages and enhances major micronutrient availability like Vitamin C, leading to a greater nutritional value and a better taste crop in many cases.
Some people claim that organic bananas are a little too expensive. But it all comes down to preference.
Organic bananas often taste better and contain no substitute false taste and allow the natural taste of that fruit to shine.