Why does artificial banana flavour taste so strange?

Exploring the surprising cause behind the phenomenon of artificial bananas tasting nothing like the real thing…

By Muhan Sun

If asked what my least favourite artificial flavour was, I would answer “banana” without hesitation. There’s just something about the way the flavouring tastes that evokes a feeling of unfamiliarity and disgust. But is there a reason why the flavour seems so different from an actual banana? It turns out that there is a very interesting theory, involving the history of our current variety of banana.

A brief history of bananas

To explain the strange artificial flavouring, we need to take a quick look at the popular types of bananas in the last century. In the first half of the 19th century, the dominant variety of bananas in stores wasn’t the one we know today. Instead, a breed of banana known as the Gros Michel was being sold worldwide. However, in the 1950s the Gros Michel was almost wiped out due to a type of fungal disease known as the Panama Disease. A replacement had to be found, fast, in order to save the previously thriving banana industry. Thankfully, a solution presented itself in the form of the Cavendish, a lesser-known variety with in-built resistance to the fungal plague. Overnight, plantations switched to growing the Cavendish, causing the Gros Michel to almost go extinct. Ever since then, Cavendish has become the most popular variety of bananas.

Comparison of flavours

So what does all this have to do with artificial bananas? Well, it turns out that the Gros Michel and Cavendish have differences in taste. People have described the Gros Michel as having a fuller, more potent flavour, due to a different biochemical profile. The flavour more closely matches the taste of isoamyl acetate, the chemical used to produce artificial fruit flavouring. So, the reasoning behind this theory is that our current artificial banana resembles the taste of Gros Michel. This in turn is the reason why it tastes so strange and unfamiliar for us.

Conclusion

The idea of our current banana flavour being based on an almost extinct variety of banana doesn’t even seem that far fetched when you consider the discrepancy in taste between artificial bananas and real ones. For me personally, it seems like a plausible explanation for the inexplicably awful taste of artificial banana flavour.