Physicochemical evaluation of cooking and dessert bananas (Musa sp.) varieties

In México, banana (Musa sp.) varieties are used for human consumption as well as for traditional medicine, but the literature lacks information on local diversity and functional justification for their use. Three varieties of dessert bananas (Valery, Morado, and Enano) and one cooking banana (Macho) were collected in a commercial farm in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, México, at the agronomic maturity stage, and they were physically and chemically evaluated. A random sampling, ANOVA, and Tukey tests were used. As compared to the dessert bananas, the cooking banana (Macho) showed a lower number of hands per banana bunch (6) and of fingers per hands (6), one of the smallest bunch yields (about 12.4 kg), a higher average finger weight (349 g), length (31.7 cm), girth (17 cm), starch amount (75.7 %, dry basis), resistant starch (59.2 % db), and greater firmness (10.2 N). Values of extractable polyphenols (EP), condensed tannins (CT), and hydrolysable tannins (HT) were higher for Morado variety, followed by Macho. The antioxidant capacity of EP, CT, and HT fluctuated among varieties. The Morado variety exhibited the lowest pasting temperature, lowest onset temperature, highest peak viscosity, and highest breakdown than those of the other varieties. The cooking variety exhibited the highest pasting and onset temperature (86.2 and 74.8 °C), and cooking ability (88.6 s) (p£0.05). The resuts revealed the differentiation of edible Mexican banana varieties and for their potential acceptability.