Why doesn't banana candy taste like banana?
August 15, 2017 3:45 PM Subscribe
Why doesn't banana candy taste like banana? Watch banana candies being formed by hand using Victorian techniques and discover why banana candy typically does not taste like what you think a banana should taste like. Also explore the weirdness of the banana plant and the correct way to peel a banana.
It might be because The Gros Michel variety of banana was the most popular up until the 50's. The artificial Isoamyl acetate banana flavour was supposedly designed to mimic this type.
However a type of Fungal disease called Panama disease spread rapidly through this monoculture, devastating crops and causing bananas shortages.
It was a whole like... thing in the 20's.
Growers switched to a banana strain called the Cavendish named after the owner of Chatsworth House (which you might know from Pride and Prejudice) where the gardener had been inspired to try and cultivate them after seeing a banana plant depicted on Chinese wallpaper.
So Bananas today are all fine now... right?
NO! Panama Disease! IS BACK!
It might be because The Gros Michel variety of banana was the most popular up until the 50's. The artificial Isoamyl acetate banana flavour was supposedly designed to mimic this type.
However a type of Fungal disease called Panama disease spread rapidly through this monoculture, devastating crops and causing bananas shortages.
It was a whole like... thing in the 20's.
Growers switched to a banana strain called the Cavendish named after the owner of Chatsworth House (which you might know from Pride and Prejudice) where the gardener had been inspired to try and cultivate them after seeing a banana plant depicted on Chinese wallpaper.
So Bananas today are all fine now... right?
NO! Panama Disease! IS BACK!
the correct way to peal a banana
Chainsaw.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:55 PM on August 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
Chainsaw.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:55 PM on August 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
The making of hard candies with little images inside is just so cool.
posted by kenko at 4:02 PM on August 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by kenko at 4:02 PM on August 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
Maybe the bees can tell the bananas where they went and how they got back.
posted by bleep at 4:02 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 4:02 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
NOT THE BEES!!!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:04 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:04 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
The artificial Isoamyl acetate banana flavour was supposedly designed to mimic this type.
So I made the mistake of going to the wiki article on this substance and discovered:
Isoamyl acetate is released by a honey bee's sting apparatus where it serves as a pheromone beacon to attract other bees and provoke them to sting.
So there's another reason to hate circus peanuts, if you needed one.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:07 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
So I made the mistake of going to the wiki article on this substance and discovered:
Isoamyl acetate is released by a honey bee's sting apparatus where it serves as a pheromone beacon to attract other bees and provoke them to sting.
So there's another reason to hate circus peanuts, if you needed one.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 4:07 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
There is fanfic about this: Mistake on the Part of Nature by idiopathicsmile:
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:09 PM on August 15, 2017 [34 favorites]
Steve takes in Bucky's betrayed look and Sam's confusion, follows Sam's gaze to the pile of mangled fruit in the trash can. Sudden comprehension fills his face.It's the top-kudosed MCU fic on AO3. (Entirely worksafe.)
"Oh," he says. "Bucky found out about bananas."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 4:09 PM on August 15, 2017 [34 favorites]
I'd like to know why banana flavor is so damn overpowering whenever you mix it with anything else.
posted by gottabefunky at 4:20 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gottabefunky at 4:20 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
The fanfic narrator has a little aside saying "Bananas are not, nor have they ever been berries, but it seems best to let that slide."
Isn't that what they are? (botanically, anyway?)
posted by Earthtopus at 4:24 PM on August 15, 2017
Isn't that what they are? (botanically, anyway?)
posted by Earthtopus at 4:24 PM on August 15, 2017
the correct way to peal a banana
Pull hard on the rope but let go before it yanks you into the tower.
posted by Splunge at 4:26 PM on August 15, 2017 [32 favorites]
Pull hard on the rope but let go before it yanks you into the tower.
posted by Splunge at 4:26 PM on August 15, 2017 [32 favorites]
as per the all about bananas link in the post:
"People often assume that the banana fruit grows on trees, however, the banana is a high herb which can grow up to 15 metres."
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:27 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
"People often assume that the banana fruit grows on trees, however, the banana is a high herb which can grow up to 15 metres."
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:27 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
Update: I got to the footnotes and there's the accurate description, yay. Nice story!
posted by Earthtopus at 4:28 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Earthtopus at 4:28 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fascinating. Maybe he can explain the flavor in watermelon candies next.
This style of candy is popular in Japan, where it's called Kintaro amé—amé means candy, Kintaro is a figure from mythology who is often represented in the candy. And Kintaro amé is also a Japanese metaphor equivalent to "cookie cutter" in English.
posted by adamrice at 4:34 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
This style of candy is popular in Japan, where it's called Kintaro amé—amé means candy, Kintaro is a figure from mythology who is often represented in the candy. And Kintaro amé is also a Japanese metaphor equivalent to "cookie cutter" in English.
posted by adamrice at 4:34 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I just watched this video earlier today! It came up randomly as a suggested video on YouTube, and it was one of the few times I felt that The Algorithm truly got me.
posted by tobascodagama at 4:34 PM on August 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 4:34 PM on August 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
The wikipedia page on berries has a section on things that we call berries, but aren't.
Strawberries = Not berries,
Raspberries = Not berries,
Blackberries = Not berries,
Bananas = Berries,
Watermelon = Berries,
Coffee = Berries.
Which is just annoying.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:35 PM on August 15, 2017 [36 favorites]
Strawberries = Not berries,
Raspberries = Not berries,
Blackberries = Not berries,
Bananas = Berries,
Watermelon = Berries,
Coffee = Berries.
Which is just annoying.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:35 PM on August 15, 2017 [36 favorites]
TIL some people hate bananas but love fake banana flavor.
Feels like coming face-to-face with a large, mysterious cryptid while walking in the woods.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:37 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
Feels like coming face-to-face with a large, mysterious cryptid while walking in the woods.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:37 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
Eggplant = berry
Also this reminds me that I saw something called Sir Bananas in the supermarket ad today. I think it's banana milk.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:38 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also this reminds me that I saw something called Sir Bananas in the supermarket ad today. I think it's banana milk.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:38 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Suspected this was a Lofty Pursuits video from the first line. That's a cool place and I suggest you go if you're even in Tallahassee. Also Ming Tree for amazing family Chinese food.
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:38 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:38 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
Berries are not berries. Only not-berries are berries. We have always been at war with berries.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:39 PM on August 15, 2017 [37 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:39 PM on August 15, 2017 [37 favorites]
To save someone else a brief moment of frustration, the 90s earworm you can hear in what I believe is just ambient noise from the shop at the end is "Out of My Head" by Fastball.
posted by Copronymus at 4:41 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Copronymus at 4:41 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
When monkeys can create something as culturally significant as Arrested Development and Starbucks, I'll take their advice on how to peel bananas. Until then, I'm pretty certain landing a man on the moon gives humans the upper hand on banana peeling methodology. Yes - I'm looking down on the monkeys - not Davey Jones and The Monkees, but the little furry guys... heck, most of the monkeys can't even keep a steady beat, much less play a guitar.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:51 PM on August 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:51 PM on August 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
I remember watching a video of theirs sometime back. It was making "illegal" black currant candy. It showed the magical heated candy table, an antique candy cutting machine and explained why black currants were banned in the US (it spread a desease that threatened the timber industry). It was like reading a Michael Pollan book. I thought it was linked from Metafilter, but I can't find it.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:54 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:54 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have a little Gros Michel growing in my backyard right now and I cannot fucking WAIT until it gets big enough to fruit.
posted by saladin at 4:54 PM on August 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by saladin at 4:54 PM on August 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
Berries are not berries. Only not-berries are berries. We have always been at war with berries.
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Top Banana.
posted by otherchaz at 5:00 PM on August 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Top Banana.
posted by otherchaz at 5:00 PM on August 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
Wait, no blackcurrants in the US?
So you don't have Ribena?
geez...
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:10 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
So you don't have Ribena?
geez...
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:10 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
"I've always thought that the yellow wrap is what gives our banana candy its great appeal."
Oh candy dude, I see what you did there.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:11 PM on August 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
Oh candy dude, I see what you did there.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:11 PM on August 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
Or black currant jam.
Really, you can find black currant here now, but it's not common.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:20 PM on August 15, 2017
Really, you can find black currant here now, but it's not common.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:20 PM on August 15, 2017
Episode of Gastropod podcast that discusses this along with all the other ins and outs of artificial and natural flavorings. They say that similar to the banana flavor, the common artificial grape flavor reflects the flavor of Concord grapes that were much more familiar 100 years ago:
As Nadia Berenstein explains in the episode, fake grape flavor (a chemical called methyl anthranilate) actually tastes much more like native American grapes, rather than the seedless Californian or Chilean grapes we buy at the supermarket today. The Concord grape also provided the basis for the most American of Jewish traditions: Manischewitz wine.
posted by polecat at 5:37 PM on August 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
As Nadia Berenstein explains in the episode, fake grape flavor (a chemical called methyl anthranilate) actually tastes much more like native American grapes, rather than the seedless Californian or Chilean grapes we buy at the supermarket today. The Concord grape also provided the basis for the most American of Jewish traditions: Manischewitz wine.
posted by polecat at 5:37 PM on August 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
that artificial banana flavor is why I don't really enjoy most whiskeys. I mean, I'll sip a fernet neat, but even in a mixed drink that artificial banana flavor is unappetizing.
posted by idiopath at 5:41 PM on August 15, 2017
posted by idiopath at 5:41 PM on August 15, 2017
TIL some people hate bananas but love fake banana flavor.
Me. The people you are speaking of are me.
My spouse is violently allergic to both actual ripe bananas and artificial banana flavoring, though, so I have to be careful making sure any banana candy I consume is clearly marked so they don't eat it by mistake and commence projectile vomiting for the next hour. It doesn't come into the house too often as a result.
more for me then
posted by sciatrix at 5:59 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Me. The people you are speaking of are me.
My spouse is violently allergic to both actual ripe bananas and artificial banana flavoring, though, so I have to be careful making sure any banana candy I consume is clearly marked so they don't eat it by mistake and commence projectile vomiting for the next hour. It doesn't come into the house too often as a result.
posted by sciatrix at 5:59 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
It might be because The Gros Michel variety of banana was the most popular up until the 50's. The artificial Isoamyl acetate banana flavour was supposedly designed to mimic this type.
I've eaten gros michel bananas, and while they are definitely good, they don't taste like fake banana flavor. Unless bananas tasted different 60 years ago, that is kind of a weird claim.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:11 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I've eaten gros michel bananas, and while they are definitely good, they don't taste like fake banana flavor. Unless bananas tasted different 60 years ago, that is kind of a weird claim.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:11 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Add Frankenberries to the list of things that are not berries. They are the corpses of berries given a hideous false life by science that Has Gone Too Far.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:21 PM on August 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:21 PM on August 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
Actually they're Frankenberry's monsters.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:35 PM on August 15, 2017 [43 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 6:35 PM on August 15, 2017 [43 favorites]
Botanists should find a different name for the family of plant they've decided to call "berries" despite the category being at such odds with common usage. (One of my pet peeves is when scientists give a common term a precise technical definition and then practicioners of scientism start telling everybody else they're using the word wrong.)
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 6:44 PM on August 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 6:44 PM on August 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
iso-amyl acetate is a common byproduct of brewing yeast. Certain yeasts, like Belgian types, produce it in high enough amounts that you can taste the banana in the beer. Look for European-style wheat beers.
posted by Foam Pants at 6:52 PM on August 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Foam Pants at 6:52 PM on August 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
"I remember watching a video of theirs sometime back ... I thought it was linked from Metafilter, but I can't find it.
Bee'sWing you probably did what I did and watched it after this FPP on a hand-cranked candy machine by the same candymaker.
posted by drinkyclown at 7:06 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Bee'sWing you probably did what I did and watched it after this FPP on a hand-cranked candy machine by the same candymaker.
posted by drinkyclown at 7:06 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
The yesterdaysprint tumblr has some timely advice on how to skin a banana:
1. Get banana sunburned. Banana will soon begin to peel.posted by Pallas Athena at 7:18 PM on August 15, 2017 [19 favorites]
2. Scare banana. Grab skin when it jumps out of it.
3. Hypnotize banana. Tell banana it is a snake. Banana will shed skin.
4. Call banana yellow. Banana will want to fight. Will remove jacket.
--From The Newton Record, Mississippi, February 8, 1940
37 comments and nobody's noted that "There's always money in the banana stand"???
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:27 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:27 PM on August 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
Counter point - why do cherry flavored candies not taste like cherries, and strawberry drops, the hard candies with the liquid middle and the red-and-green wrapper, not taste like strawberries, but it's own, different flavor that makes you think of Granma and/or early '80s home improvement stores where they also sold inadequately small concrete Koi ponds? Also! Fake Grape... threat or tongue-searing menace?"
Let's go to the panel!
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:31 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Let's go to the panel!
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:31 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think this video has a lot in common with the guy who fixes and modifies hotwheels cars. Eminently watchable even though i'm not really that interested in the subject.
posted by onya at 7:54 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by onya at 7:54 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's a really well-designed production. The video shows some tasks, such as pulling candy to turn it white, in near-real time, so that you get a good idea of the work that goes into it. But while the main task goes on, the picture in picture elements and narration give you something fun to listen to without editing, speeding up or pulling some other timing trick.
Combining visuals, concepts and words across time is one of the most difficult tasks out there. The guy who made it said that he was an artist by training, but he must have spent some time with storytellers, film makers and/or instructional designers, too.
posted by maudlin at 8:08 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Combining visuals, concepts and words across time is one of the most difficult tasks out there. The guy who made it said that he was an artist by training, but he must have spent some time with storytellers, film makers and/or instructional designers, too.
posted by maudlin at 8:08 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
In the organic chemistry class I took in high school, we made artificial banana flavoring. Our teacher told us it was one of the first artificial flavorings ever developed, and that's why it has such a primitive, "eh, close enough" flavor.
posted by zsazsa at 8:30 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by zsazsa at 8:30 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
Fake grape tastes like Concord grapes.
posted by ananci at 8:31 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by ananci at 8:31 PM on August 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have a little Gros Michel growing in my backyard right now and I cannot fucking WAIT until it gets big enough to fruit.
My sixth grade diary has a very similar entry.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:37 PM on August 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
My sixth grade diary has a very similar entry.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:37 PM on August 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
Every so often, someone links to one of these Lofty Pursuits candy videos, and I lose hours of productivity.
posted by stray at 9:59 PM on August 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by stray at 9:59 PM on August 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
As of the 49th annual meeting of the AIBS: avacados, the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, and Shar-pei puppies are currently considered berries by modern botanical theorists.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:13 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:13 PM on August 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
Mod note: fixed peal > peel in post
posted by taz (staff) at 11:43 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 11:43 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
My dentist as a child used artificial-banana-flavored crap to numb my mouth before doing horrible things to me. I hate artificial banana flavor with the fury of a thousand suns. Never, not even once.
What is blue Mister Misty supposed to be? Other than, well, blue?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:57 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
What is blue Mister Misty supposed to be? Other than, well, blue?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:57 PM on August 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
[fixed peal > peel in post]
Thanks!
I had noticed that, but that text is a literal copy and paste from the video.
This was gonna be a slyt but I got distracted by Panama disease and added a bunch more links.
Also also, I'm pretty dubious about the artificial flavour tastes like gross Michel. Maybe it's closer, but I'd bet it's still not that close.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 12:51 AM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Thanks!
I had noticed that, but that text is a literal copy and paste from the video.
This was gonna be a slyt but I got distracted by Panama disease and added a bunch more links.
Also also, I'm pretty dubious about the artificial flavour tastes like gross Michel. Maybe it's closer, but I'd bet it's still not that close.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 12:51 AM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
OMG: bananas we're so much more aromatic when I was growing up. Like: I hated the smell of them during lunch hour in my grade school cafeteria. This was in the 1960s. I only wish they were so aromatic today. So the gros michel theory makes a lot of sense to me.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:59 AM on August 16, 2017
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:59 AM on August 16, 2017
Artificial grape doesn't taste exactly like Concord grapes either - it's mostly just the one prominent flavor ester? But it does taste more like Concord grapes than seedless.
posted by atoxyl at 6:30 AM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 6:30 AM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fun fake flavor fact: wisteria and kudzu flowers smell like fake grape flavor. When they were in full flower at my grandmother's house, it made the mere act of walking around the garden feel like some Wonka-esque event. If I need to reexperience that particular time and place, the candy counter at any convenience store is my wayback machine... Proust had his madeleines, I have Hubba Bubba.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:00 AM on August 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:00 AM on August 16, 2017 [6 favorites]
What we need is a return of Fleegle and the Banana Splits. You want the right earworm? The opening theme to the Banana splits.
The wikipedia tags for the cartoon say it all. Where else can you mix children, comedy, adventure, live action and psychedelia?
Genre:
Children
Live action
Animation
Psychedelia [emphasis mine]
Comedy
Adventure
posted by AugustWest at 8:38 AM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
The wikipedia tags for the cartoon say it all. Where else can you mix children, comedy, adventure, live action and psychedelia?
Genre:
Children
Live action
Animation
Psychedelia [emphasis mine]
Comedy
Adventure
posted by AugustWest at 8:38 AM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
FYI you can make a frozen dessert, similar to ice cream, using bananas as the only ingredient.
1. Peel then slice 2 bananas into thin disks
2. Arrange the disks on a plate and place in freezer until they are hard frozen (~ 2 hours)
3. Put disks into a blender and blend until texture resembles frozen custard (you will have to stop and push the fruit down a few times during the process, as it tends to form into a ball)
Optional: add a spoonful of peanut butter and/or chocolate syrup before blending
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:05 AM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
1. Peel then slice 2 bananas into thin disks
2. Arrange the disks on a plate and place in freezer until they are hard frozen (~ 2 hours)
3. Put disks into a blender and blend until texture resembles frozen custard (you will have to stop and push the fruit down a few times during the process, as it tends to form into a ball)
Optional: add a spoonful of peanut butter and/or chocolate syrup before blending
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:05 AM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Modern bananas are picked when still green and artificially ripened with ethlyene. The bananas you can find in south america have a much stronger/better taste.
posted by Lanark at 10:24 AM on August 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Lanark at 10:24 AM on August 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
OMG: bananas we're so much more aromatic when I was growing up. Like: I hated the smell of them during lunch hour in my grade school cafeteria. This was in the 1960s. I only wish they were so aromatic today. So the gros michel theory makes a lot of sense to me.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's much more likely that your sense of smell has declined in the intervening 50+ years.
That said, I think bananas also are generally consumed a bit less ripe than they used to be. I remember as a kid in the 80s, we ate bright yellow bananas because they'd be brown in another day or two. These days, the bananas in the store are almost uniformly green. Less ripe means less aromatic, too.
posted by explosion at 11:03 AM on August 16, 2017
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's much more likely that your sense of smell has declined in the intervening 50+ years.
That said, I think bananas also are generally consumed a bit less ripe than they used to be. I remember as a kid in the 80s, we ate bright yellow bananas because they'd be brown in another day or two. These days, the bananas in the store are almost uniformly green. Less ripe means less aromatic, too.
posted by explosion at 11:03 AM on August 16, 2017
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's much more likely that your sense of smell has declined in the intervening 50+ years.
Oh, that has certainly occurred and ya, know, memories are easily re-written. But as something of a professional whiskey taster (like I get paid to do this), I can definitely tell when I'm sniffing a sample laden with a isoamyl acetate. (And I do not like bananas in my whiskey.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:41 AM on August 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
Oh, that has certainly occurred and ya, know, memories are easily re-written. But as something of a professional whiskey taster (like I get paid to do this), I can definitely tell when I'm sniffing a sample laden with a isoamyl acetate. (And I do not like bananas in my whiskey.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:41 AM on August 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
In the early 1970s I worked as a medical lab assistant in hospitals. Automated blood chemistry machines were starting to be a thing (I wonder if old-time docs still ask for SMA-6's and -12's) but a lot of chem analyses were still done by hand with pipettes, water baths, graduated cylinders and the like. Often the results would boil down (pun intended) to you holding a test tube up to the window and trying to tell whether or not there was a blue tinge in the stuff at the bottom.
Anyway, there was one rarely ordered assay (for Serotonin, I think) that used reagents which would fill the lab with the essence of artificial bananas. The smell was cloyingly thick and would last for hours. To this day, the odor of banana flavoring makes me flashback to my time in that lab, the people I worked with, the things we said and did nearly half a century ago. It amazes me how strongly memories are often triggered by odors. Like another time at that same job when I walked into the ER and thought "hmm, smells like someone's roasting hot dogs in here" -- a supposedly pleasant smell, forever ruined for me.
I'm only a couple of hours away from Tallahassee and will be passing through there on my way down to central Florida in the next week or two. Gonna have to stop by Lofty Pursuits on the way, for sure.
posted by TwoToneRow at 1:02 PM on August 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
Anyway, there was one rarely ordered assay (for Serotonin, I think) that used reagents which would fill the lab with the essence of artificial bananas. The smell was cloyingly thick and would last for hours. To this day, the odor of banana flavoring makes me flashback to my time in that lab, the people I worked with, the things we said and did nearly half a century ago. It amazes me how strongly memories are often triggered by odors. Like another time at that same job when I walked into the ER and thought "hmm, smells like someone's roasting hot dogs in here" -- a supposedly pleasant smell, forever ruined for me.
I'm only a couple of hours away from Tallahassee and will be passing through there on my way down to central Florida in the next week or two. Gonna have to stop by Lofty Pursuits on the way, for sure.
posted by TwoToneRow at 1:02 PM on August 16, 2017 [5 favorites]
The crystal rose candies are really lovely, bet they'd be popular as wedding favors.
posted by tavella at 1:11 PM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 1:11 PM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
So here in Southern California lots of people grow a type of banana that is smaller than the ones in stores. It turns soft when ripe and when really ripe the skin turns dark purple. If you didn't know better you would think it is black and over ripe. You would be wrong. When peeled it is very soft and needs a spoon or fork to eat it. It is over the top delicious, and tastes like lemon custard. If you want banana flavor, get some circus peanuts.
posted by charlesminus at 2:45 PM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by charlesminus at 2:45 PM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Like another time at that same job when I walked into the ER and thought "hmm, smells like someone's roasting hot dogs in here" -- a supposedly pleasant smell, forever ruined for me.
This is a friend's story, not mine, but -
My friend used to work in a lab that performed all kinds of medical experiments, often lethal, on rats.
For one particular experiment they were to give the rats a CNS drug, then euthanize them in a way that would preserve certain brain chemistry more or less exactly as it was at the instant of death. Apparently the way to do this is with a machine that delivers an intense, focused microwave burst, flash-cooking the brain.
When they got this machine, they tested it on hot dogs. That day the lab smelled like hot dogs.
The next day the lab smelled like microwaved rats.
I think it was a few months after that that he not only quit that job but switched careers entirely.
posted by atoxyl at 3:15 PM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
This is a friend's story, not mine, but -
My friend used to work in a lab that performed all kinds of medical experiments, often lethal, on rats.
For one particular experiment they were to give the rats a CNS drug, then euthanize them in a way that would preserve certain brain chemistry more or less exactly as it was at the instant of death. Apparently the way to do this is with a machine that delivers an intense, focused microwave burst, flash-cooking the brain.
When they got this machine, they tested it on hot dogs. That day the lab smelled like hot dogs.
The next day the lab smelled like microwaved rats.
I think it was a few months after that that he not only quit that job but switched careers entirely.
posted by atoxyl at 3:15 PM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
I also had a high school chemistry class where we synthesized banana flavoring! I remember the instructor telling us that the reason it didn't taste like real bananas was because it was just one ester and that real bananas had a bunch of different esters and compounds that together make up the flavor "banana."
posted by purple_bird at 3:37 PM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by purple_bird at 3:37 PM on August 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yeah it's one of the classics of intro chemistry I think because it's a very simple reaction with a very memorable (without being particularly dangerous) result.
posted by atoxyl at 3:42 PM on August 16, 2017
posted by atoxyl at 3:42 PM on August 16, 2017
the common artificial grape flavor reflects the flavor of Concord grapes that were much more familiar 100 years ago
Concord grapes are great. I buy too many of them every year when they are in season (which is coming up soon). Every grocery store will carry them here in Ontario, but that's probably because they grow them here. Those and pink muscat grapes are the only ones I look forward to eating.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 8:49 PM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Concord grapes are great. I buy too many of them every year when they are in season (which is coming up soon). Every grocery store will carry them here in Ontario, but that's probably because they grow them here. Those and pink muscat grapes are the only ones I look forward to eating.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 8:49 PM on August 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Aw man, I never got to make flavoring! I did an ethers lab (I think that's right) where each group mixed stuff that made different artificial smells like apples, banana, etc.
My group got "garbage". At least we didn't have to taste it too.
It also might have been something about the idea of drinking anything ever in a lab environment.
posted by VTX at 3:25 PM on August 17, 2017
My group got "garbage". At least we didn't have to taste it too.
It also might have been something about the idea of drinking anything ever in a lab environment.
posted by VTX at 3:25 PM on August 17, 2017
I did an ethers lab
Those would be esters. I once let someone dip their gum into their own synthesized isoamyl acetate to see what it would taste like and said that all they could taste for the next half hour was BANANA. Not just banana but BANANA!!!. It was quite overwhelming, and he just added a drop to some stale gum he was chewing.
It also might have been something about the idea of drinking anything ever in a lab environment.
Yeah I wasn't supposed to let him do this, but I knew he had taken enough drugs that a drop of his own freshly distilled ester would probably be much purer than the MDMA he would have on the weekend. Also I doubt there would be any heavy metal contamination, and if a small amount of the acetic acid or isoamyl alcohol were mixed in those are essentially harmless also.
posted by koolkat at 1:24 AM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Those would be esters. I once let someone dip their gum into their own synthesized isoamyl acetate to see what it would taste like and said that all they could taste for the next half hour was BANANA. Not just banana but BANANA!!!. It was quite overwhelming, and he just added a drop to some stale gum he was chewing.
It also might have been something about the idea of drinking anything ever in a lab environment.
Yeah I wasn't supposed to let him do this, but I knew he had taken enough drugs that a drop of his own freshly distilled ester would probably be much purer than the MDMA he would have on the weekend. Also I doubt there would be any heavy metal contamination, and if a small amount of the acetic acid or isoamyl alcohol were mixed in those are essentially harmless also.
posted by koolkat at 1:24 AM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Science Friday did a big ol segment on this very subject today.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:51 PM on August 18, 2017
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:51 PM on August 18, 2017
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