The Blue Java (also known as the blue banana, Ice Cream banana, Vanilla Banana, Hawaiian banana, Ney Mannan, Krie, or Cenizo) is a hardy, cold-tolerant

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

known for its sweet aromatic fruit, which is said to have an

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

-like consistency and flavor reminiscent of

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

. It is native to Southeast Asia and is a hybrid of two species of banana native to Southeast Asia—''Musa balbisiana'' and ''Musa acuminata.''

Taxonomy and nomenclature

The Blue Java banana is a triploid ( ABB) hybrid of the seeded banana ''

Musa balbisiana ''Musa balbisiana'', also known simply as plantain, is a wild-type species of banana. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with '' Musa acuminata''. Description It grows lush leaves in clumps with a more upright habit ...

'' and ''

Musa acuminata ''Musa acuminata'' is a species of banana native to South Asia, Southern Asia, its range comprising the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are derived from this species, although some are hybrids wi ...

''. Its accepted name is ''Musa acuminata'' × ''balbisiana'' (ABB Group) 'Blue Java'.

Synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

include: * ''Musa acuminata × balbisiana'' (ABB Group) 'Ice Cream' In

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

it is known as the 'Ice Cream banana' and in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

as the 'Hawaiian banana'. It is also called 'Krie' in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, 'Kepok Awu' in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and 'Cenizo' in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Description

Blue Java banana trees can grow to a height of . They are cold-tolerant and wind-resistant because of their strong pseudostems and root systems. The leaves are silvery green in color. The fruit bunches are small, bearing seven to nine hands. The fruit are in length and exhibit a characteristic silvery green color when unripe where the silveriness is caused by heavy coat of wax. The fruit turn a pale yellow when ripe, with white creamy flesh. They bloom around 15 to 24 months after planting and can be harvested after 115 to 150 days. The bananas have bumps called "knuckles" due to their passing resemblance to human knuckles.

Uses

Blue Java bananas are popular bananas that can be eaten fresh or cooked. They are known for their fragrant flavor which has a

-like

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with Eggs as food, egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in con ...

taste. They are also popular as ornamentals and shade plants for their unusual blue coloration, large size, and tolerance to temperate climates.

Pests and diseases

Common pests

* Borers *

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

s * Root-knot nematode

Common diseases

* Panama disease * Black sigatoka

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Java banana Australian cuisine Banana cultivars