Throwback Thursday: Assumption Busting

30526a – Learning Activity

Assumption Busting and Brainstorming

When asked if I could create an orange banana, initially, my answer would be 'no'. 

But I would have to ask myself how would it taste?  These ideas came to mind:

1.      If I were to imagine covering a banana with orange juice for instance – maybe that would give me an idea.

2.      Another way would be to chop up a banana and an orange and mix the pieces up into a fruit salad.

3.      Or you could mix up the two fruits in a blender and turn it into orange and banana juice, before pouring the mixture into a banana shaped popsicle mold (ice-block) and freezing it.

However, I was reminded of another type of fruit: the finger-lime.  What is a finger-lime, exactly?  Apparently, this is a fruit related to most citrus fruit, a species under the genus, 'microcitrus'[1].  It is an Australian citrus fruit whose shape is like a banana.

Might it be possible to create a species that cross-breeds the finger-lime with an orange to create an orange banana?  That is, have a banana-shaped fruit citrus-like pulp, similar to the finger-lime but with an orange flavour (and colour)?

Or alternatively, would it taste like the Monstera Deliciosa, or 'fruit salad' plant?  This is a tropical plant originating from Mexico and other parts of Central America[2] but is common throughout Australia as well[3].  The fruit of this plant also looks like cross between a banana and a corn cob; and tastes somewhat like pineapple and vanilla[4].

Or maybe genetic engineers could get really 'crafty' and actually breed an orange plant with a banana one to create an orange banana?

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[1]    Wikipedia (2015): Citrus australiascia in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus_australasica;

[2]    Wikipedia (2015): Monstera deliciosa in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstera_deliciosa;

[3]    Department of Primary Industries(2002): Monstera deliciosa in http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/119775/monsterosa-deliciosa.pdf;

[4]    Eat Your Backyard (2012): How to eat the Exotic and Rare Monstera Deliciosa; on YouTube – http://youtu.be/MfN8_vqCMWk; see also Healthy Livin' Alex (2013) with Monsterosa-deliciosa Harvest and Taste Test: on YouTube – http://youtu.be/HYt6N-x50B4;

This is an Open Colleges Project I did back in 2015 at the beginning of the year.  We were asked if it was possible to create an 'orange banana'.   I don't know if I could do it personally, but if I were skilled in botany and horticulture, then maybe.

The possibilities are endless when you think about it?