Cardava banana
Cardava bananas, also spelled cardaba or kardaba, is a triploid hybrid banana cultivar originating from the Philippines. It is primarily a cooking banana, though it can also be eaten raw. It is commonly confused with the more ubiquitous and closely related saba banana because they are used identically in traditional Filipino cuisine. Their common names can be interchanged in everyday usage though they are different cultivars.
Description
Like saba bananas, cardava bananas have very large and robust pseudostems, growing up to a height of, and a diameter of. It takes around 339 days to flower, and 479 days for the fruits to be ready to harvest. Each bunch contains around 150 fruits in 9 hands. The fruits are distinctively larger than saba bananas and have a rounder more pentagonal cross-section. They are typically harvested while unripe since they are used as cooking bananas, but they can be eaten as is if allowed to ripen.Taxonomy and nomenclature
The cardava banana a triploid hybrid of the seeded bananas Musa balbisiana and Musa acuminata. It was formerly believed to be a triploid M. balbisiana cultivar, which is now known to be incorrect. Its official designation is Musa acuminata × balbisiana 'Cardava'.Cardava bananas are also spelled as "cardaba" or "kardaba" in Philippine languages. It is also known as pisang chematu or pisang kepok besar in Indonesia, and chuối mật in Vietnam.