Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm not exactly the biggest fan of bananas.
Don't get me wrong, I'll destroy some banana bread if someone bakes a loaf, and there's nothing quite like the taste of chocolate chip banana muffins. But I feel like there are definitely tastier fruits out there, and sitting down to just eat a plain banana doesn't sound ideal.
Now if that banana were to taste like vanilla soft-serve ice cream, I might be a bit more inclined to peel one. Or two. Or 10.
Blue Java bananas are widely known as the "ice cream" banana, for obvious reasons. Not only do they take on a unique greenish-silver-blue hue when its unripe, but once peeled, people can enjoy the wildly unexpected taste of its sweet and soft flesh. Some say it tastes like vanilla custard while others have likened it more to vanilla ice cream.
Either way, it doesn't have that traditional "banana" flavor, so color me interested.
Usually it's not very easy to get your hands on one of these tasty bananas if you're outside those areas. One Florida-based company offers customers the chance to buy them in bulk, and a few growers in Hawaii even offer the bananas at farmers' markets.
However, for those of us unlucky enough to be too far outside the Blue Java-growing zones, eating an ice cream banana has been only a dream, never a reality. Well, until now, that is.
According to Totally The Bomb, the tropical plant retailer Wellspring Gardens is now offering intrigued potential buyers the chance to purchase their own Blue Java starter plants through Amazon so they can grow their own ice cream-flavored bananas.
The description on Amazon reads, "Growing your own fruit results in better tasting and better for you delights!" So it sounds like you'll be doing yourself a pretty big favor if you splurge a little and drop about $30 on these plants.
Just think: you'll be able to grow your own bananas that taste like ice cream. The future truly is now!
One reviewer said the plant grows incredibly fast and advised others not to keep theirs in the sun for the first year or they'll burn. Others have also explained it takes a bit of adjusting to get used to the plant's unique watering needs – it enjoys thorough waterings, but don't leave it completely dry in between each watering or it won't do well.
So as long as you're prepared to take on the responsibility of growing a tropical fruit plant in your home, you can grow your own ice cream bananas and maybe even trick a friend or two with this bizarrely flavored fruit.
