One of the most popular desserts in America, the Banana Split was invented by David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (also famous as the birthplace of Rolling Rock beer) in 1904.  Strickler created his Banana Split with three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) on a halved banana topped off with chocolate, marshmallow, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry (he also commissioned a local glass company to create a long, narrow dish to accommodate a banana).  The price for the Banana Split triple sundae was 10 cents, twice the price of other sundaes, but it immediately became popular with students of Saint Vincent College.  News of the sundae spread regionally and Strickler eventually bought the pharmacy, renaming it Strickler’s Pharmacy.

Wilmington, Ohio also claims their city as the birthplace of the Banana Split. In 1907, restaurant owner Ernest Hazard staged an employee contest to create a new sundae to attract students from nearby Wilmington College.  Employee creativity was low and Hazard ended up splitting a banana lengthwise and piling ice cream on top with whipped cream, sliced strawberries, crushed nuts, shaved chocolate, and a maraschino cherry.  Wilmington celebrates Hazard’s concoction every June with a Banana Split Festival.

Much credit for the national popularity of the Banana Split goes to Walgreen’s drug stores.  Founder Charles Rudolph Walgreen adopted the Banana Split as the chain’s signature dessert in the late 1920’s.

Traditional Banana Split Recipe:
1/2 cup scoop vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup scoop chocolate ice cream
1/2 cup scoop strawberry ice cream
1 large ripe banana
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup (or Hot Fudge)
2 tablespoons strawberry ice cream topping (or fresh strawberries)
2 tablespoons crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons wet walnut ice cream topping
whipped cream
cherries

Most Americans would be surprised to know that the banana their ancestors came to know and love is not the same banana they purchase in the supermarket.  The banana of yesterday was the Michel Gros (Big Mike) – a much tastier and larger variety than the Cavendish banana seen in American markets today. 

Americans, who eat as many bananas as apples and oranges combined, have been enjoying the world’s most popular fruit since the late 1800’s when the United Fruit Company (known today as Chiquita) began clearing rain forests in Latin American, building railroads, opening communication networks and inventing refrigeration techniques to control ripening and get the banana to American households as quickly as possible.

In the early 1900’s the fungus called the Panama disease (also known as Fusarium Wilt) began to devastate banana plantations in Latin America (the 1923 musical hit “Yes, We Have No Bananas” was inspired by dwindling stock of Michel Gros bananas).   By the 1960’s the Michel Gros banana had practically become extinct, it had disappeared from American markets and the banana industry was on the verge of bankruptcy.  In a fit of desperation, growers turned to the Cavendish, a Vietnamese variety previously considered too small, less tasty and too easy to bruise for transport.  However, the Cavandish was superior to the Michel Gros in one way – it was immune to the Panama disease and this inferior banana saved the entire industry.

Today, a new and more virulent strain of the Panama disease, called Tropical Race 4 (TR4), has begun to ravage the banana industry.  It emerged in the Philippines in the 1990s and has spread to northern Australian and China.  The Cavendish banana is not immune to TR4 and the fungus is expected to invade Latin American plantations in five to ten years.

Latin American producers appear to be slow in raising the red flag.  Fernando Aguirre, CEO of the world’s largest banana producer Chiquita Brands International, says the threat is very low. “We believe it is a very limited threat and would take many, many years to spread even if it does move out of Asia,” he said. “We believe that it is very limited and we are doing all we can to pre-empt and prepare.”

Will the Cavendish banana eventually go the way of the Michel Gros?  Only time will tell, but it will be interesting to see if a new, and hopefully tastier banana than the Cavendish, will dominate the American market in the future.