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Manzano Bananas for Delivery or Pickup
The Instacart guide to Manzano banana products
About Manzano bananas
Manzano bananas are part of the banana family, but they have a unique, sweet taste that might remind you of an apple or even a strawberry. In fact, Manzano bananas are often called apple bananas. But these specialty bananas provide a similar nutritional profile as the typical household banana, delivering a large part of your recommended daily allowances of potassium and other vitamins and minerals.Â
Manzano bananas also look just like the standard banana, with a waxy skin that turns a bright banana yellow at the peak of ripeness. They are long and thin, and slightly curved with protrusions on the end. The big difference: Manzano bananas do not grow to the same length, topping out instead at about four inches long. The Manzano banana is also called the finger banana or the baby banana.
As a  tropical fruit, Manzano bananas grow in bunches after planting in warm, humid climates such as southeast Asia, South America, and Hawaii. The three largest countries for banana growth are India, Brazil, and China. The bananas also are popular items to grow in home gardens or on smaller farms. You may be able to pick them up at roadside stands or farmers markets.
Manzano bananas are very high in potassium, an electrolyte that is important to your nervous system and is also thought to help keep blood pressure in check. They deliver an excellent source of dietary fiber, helping with digestion, as well as vitamins C, B-12, D, and A. One banana provides about 100 calories.
Because of its sweet flavor, many consider the Manzano as a banana that is perfect for dessert, either on its own as a snack or as part of delicious-sounding recipes such as pan-fried cinnamon bananas.
How to tell if Manzano bananas are ripe
Manzano bananas signal when they are ready to eat by changes in their skin color across a continuum. The nice thing about overripe or under-ripe bananas is they are still useful foods even beyond peak ripeness.Â
According to banana-grower Chiquita, bananas move through five stages:
- Under-ripe, when the skin is green.
- Barely ripe, when the banana is yellow with green tips.
- Ripe, where the banana is pure yellow.
- Very ripe, when the banana shows yellow with brown flecks.
- Overripe, when the banana turns brown.
How do you eat Manzano bananas?
The potential ways of eating Manzano bananas shift as the banana moves through different stages of ripeness, Chiquita says. Bananas are excellent when underripe in curries, stews, stir-fry, or also as deep-fried items or as a substitute for plantains. When the bananas reach the perfect ripe stage, think of using them for bread or rice puddings, as toppings on fruit tarts, or as a mix into smoothies. You can also eat them as a delicious snack.
Save the browned, overripe bananas for smoothies, as part of blended cocktails, or for use in breads. Bananas in this stage go well on ice cream sundaes, cheesecakes, trifles, or as a mixer in tropical cocktails such as frozen Daiquiris.
Manzanos are included as ingredients in several different types of intriguing recipes, judging from recipes found on the web. A few examples include Filipino fried bananas, green banana fries, fried honey bananas, smoky apple-banana salsa, and sticky rice and banana cakes.Â
If you are looking to try a different kind of fruit, and maybe even one that you eat for dessert, consider putting Manzano bananas in your shopping cart using the Instacart app the next time you are looking to restock!
Instacart shoppers can pick out your Manzanos for you, along with other produce and household items you might need for cooking and cleaning. Using the Instacart app saves you time and money. We will do our best to get these items to you with same-day delivery!
Manzano Banana Near Me
Buy your favorite Manzano Banana online with Instacart. Order Manzano Banana from local and national retailers near you and enjoy on-demand, contactless delivery or pickup within 2 hours.
FAQs about Manzano bananas
Manzano bananas are best kept at room temperatures and generally do not belong in the refrigerator. Like the standard household banana, Manzanos will brown rapidly when exposed to the cold. However, it's possible to freeze Manzanos and other bananas for later use. Peel them first, put them in plastic bags and stow them in the freezer. Frozen bananas can be great add-ins for smoothies. You can also freeze over-ripe bananas in mashed form for later use in bread or other types of recipes.
Depending on which source you consult, there are somewhere between 500 and 1,000 different varieties of bananas. The standard household banana is known as the Cavendish banana. One of the other common varieties you might be familiar with is plantain. Less commonly found in markets are varieties such as red, ice cream/blue java, Orinoco, Burro, and Goldfinger bananas. Worldwide, growers produce more than 100 million tons of bananas each year.