Why Doesn’t Banana Flavoring Taste Exactly Like Bananas?

I’ve noticed that banana flavoring or artificial banana flavor tends to get singled out as not tasting like a real banana. The fact is that no flavor extract tastes exactly like the real thing, but there is something about artificial banana flavor that seems to stand out to many people. I happen to love it. It’s my favorite artificial flavor. It doesn’t taste like a real banana but like the essence of banana. Others, apparently, hate it! In fact, some find it sickening.

The rumor is that this is because banana flavor isn’t made from bananas or it’s made from an extinct variety of bananas. Neither is true and neither is relevant.

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What is Artificial Banana Flavor Made From?

When food scientists set out to make an artificial flavoring compound, they seek out the main compound in fruit or other food that seems to be the most responsible for its quintessential flavor. There is one compound that stands out in this regard for bananas: isoamyl acetate.

Of course, bananas contain a number of volatile compounds that contribute to their taste and smell, all of which combine to create the flavor we experience when eating the fruit. At least 42 molecules have been identified that help contribute to this flavor. All of these have their own scent and if you smelled each one individually you wouldn’t think any of them smelled like a banana. You’d describe them as floral, sweet, fruity, etc. but not as ‘banana.’ There is even one compound, eugenol, that might remind you of cinnamon, or perhaps cloves.

Isoamyl acetate, alone, seems to be the one compound that smacks of being ‘banana.’ It’s so banana-like that food chemists simply call it banana ester. In fact, you might say it smells like over-ripe bananas, something that I actually do find sickening. Oddly, bananas do not actually contain a lot of isoamyl acetate but humans are able to detect it in tiny amounts as low as 2 parts per million. ¹,²

Like any isolated flavor compound, isoamyl acetate cannot hope to recreate the flavor of bananas on its own. It misses the mark by at least 40 compounds or so. But, something about this particular molecule seems to be extra offensive to many people and since foods flavored with artificial banana use a whole lot of it, these foods are extra nasty to isoamyl acetate haters. I suppose you didn’t know you hated isoamyl acetate. Now you do.

Or, are you like me? Do you love banana-flavored Laffy Taffy? I’m one of those strange people who just love the artificial banana flavor. In fact, I was bummed when they took Banana Nesquik off the market, although you can still get it in the UK.

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Other Isolated Flavor Compounds

While isoamyl acetate, or banana flavoring, is particularly infamous, it certainly isn’t the only isolated flavoring compound. Here are a few others:

benzaldehyde: cherry or almond flavor
ethyl butryate: pineapple
methyl anthranilate: grape
methyl salicylate: wintergreen
Ethyl methylphenylglycidate: strawberry
4-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)butan-2-one (raspberry ketone): raspberry

I should note, however, that not all fruit flavors can be easily ‘faked’ with just one compound and most good flavors use additional compounds to round out the flavor. Watermelon is particularly hard to make. This may be, in fact, why so many people hate artificial watermelon-flavored candy. Too much of one thing and not enough of another and it’s a mess.

Banana Flavor Was Based on an Extinct Variety of Banana

Let’s revisit the popular theory that banana flavor was based on an extinct variety of bananas. This is a myth that was created to explain the disparity between banana flavoring and real bananas. According to this myth, artificial banana flavor, or banana oil, was based on a particularly pungent and strong-tasting banana called the Gros Michel banana. This crop was all but wiped out by a fungus called Fusarium oxysporum, paving the way for the Cavendish banana which doesn’t taste like the Gros Michel, nor artificial banana flavor, by extension.

An abundance of ripe Gros Michel bananas. Obviously not extinct

While there is no evidence that banana flavoring was based on the Gros Michel, this variety does seem to have a stronger, more ‘fake’ taste. This is because it has fewer volatile compounds than the Cavendish most of us are familiar with, but more isoamyl acetate. In other words, it has a less complex flavor and the relative abundance of isoamyl acetate is not offset as much by all the other aromatics that make up a Cavendish. So, it may make sense that a Gros Michel will remind someone more of a ‘fake’ banana taste. But, this doesn’t mean that it’s responsible for it in the first place.

It doesn’t matter whether isoamyl acetate or banana ester comes from a banana or is synthesized in a lab. The result is the same. The smell is the same, and the taste is the same. The compound can be isolated in a Cavendish and other edible varieties but which banana it came from is not really relevant as isoamyl acetate is very cheap to produce in the lab. Successful efforts have been made to produce both Gros Michel and Cavendish bananas that are resistant to this disease.

Up until the 1950s, the Gros Michel, or ‘Big Mile’ was the main cultivar of banana grown and would have been the variety most were familiar with. The popular song “Yes We Have No Bananas” was based on the shortage of Gros Michel bananas that began when the “Panama disease,” or aforementioned Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum) hit the crop. Contrary to the theory, however, this did not cause the cultivar to ‘go extinct.’ The disease, instead, forced banana growers to switch to a new disease-resistant cultivar. Unfortunately, the Cavendish is now threatened by the strain of the fungus called Tropical Race 4 (TR4)

The Gros Michel is still produced in smaller quantities in several countries but under different names, such as Thihmwe in Myanmar, Johnson in Cuba, Pisang Ambon in Malaysia, and Bluefields in Hawai.