IF YOU are bananas over bananas, chances are you enjoy the fruit in its fruit form or any dessert made out of them. However, when it comes to using artificial banana flavouring in a recipe, the food item does not taste like any banana varieties in the current market.
Is this true?
Verdict:
FALSE
There are stories out that mention the origin of artificial banana flavouring was developed from an old variety of banana called the Gros Michel or “Big Mike” in the Western supermarkets in the past.
During the 20th century, a fungus called Fusarium oxysporum, or “Panama disease”, wiped out the Gros Michel bananas.
However, according to the BBC, there is little or no verifiable source that the artificial banana flavouring is based on Gros Michel.
“It sounds very, very unlikely to me,” synthetic organic chemist Derek Lowe told the BBC.
“The thing is, the taste of a banana can be mimicked most of the way with a simple compound called isoamyl acetate.
“Many chemists know it as ‘banana ester’ and anyone who smells it immediately goes, ‘banana!'”
The report added that the organic compound isoamyl acetate, which is indeed found in bananas, is a very simple compound that is both cheap to produce and highly versatile.
Diluted, it smells more like pears than bananas and logical combinations of this ester have proved popular.
So, the flavouring boils down to simple chemistry.
So, if you read this article and prefer to eat bananas in their natural form, go ahead and do so, and you can find out the benefits of having bananas in your diet here:
https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2014/05/04/going-bananas-benefits-of-the-fruit.
Also, if you think this fact about banana flavouring is weird, wait until you find out if bananas are radioactive or not (read this:
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/true-or-not/2021/12/31/quickcheck-are-bananas-radioactive)
As a side not, while Gros Michel has gone extinct elsewhere in the world, it’s still alive and kicking here in Malaysia.
The local name for the banana is ‘Pisang Embun’ and while you might not be able to find it in a supermarket, it can still be bought at most pasar tani or at your local wet market.
References:
1.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140829-the-secrets-of-fake-flavours
2.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-artificial-banana-flavor-doesnt-taste-like-bananas
3.
https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2014/05/04/going-bananas-benefits-of-the-fruit
4.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/true-or-not/2021/12/31/quickcheck-are-bananas-radioactive
