The Complete Handbook of Bananas

Solid, practical book. I run a small produce wholesaling operation and the ripening room chapter alone was worth the price. It gave me a clear schedule and temperature targets I could actually apply. I docked one star because the equipment diagrams mentioned in the intro didn't exist, which was a bit annoying, but the text itself is accurate.

Finally, a banana reference that treats the subject with respect. The explanation of pulp temperature versus air temperature and how it affects the ripening cycle cleared up years of guesswork. I've been in the industry for 18 years and I still learned a lot from the troubleshooting section. This is the book I'll recommend to new buyers.

I manage a foodservice produce program for a restaurant group, and the chapter on choosing the right banana was exactly what I needed. The breakdown of counts per box and how that translates to yield was super helpful for ordering. It's dense and not flashy, but if you deal with bananas commercially this is the real deal.

Good, thorough handbook. I appreciated the detailed glossary and the specifics on ethylene application. I do wish the maintenance chapter had a few more photos, but for a text-based reference it's clear and direct. The sections on chill injury and split peels have definitely saved me from a couple of bad orders already.

It's a competent, well-researched handbook, but I was expecting a bit more on the actual growing side of things. The book is heavily focused on the handling and ripening side of the supply chain, which is fine, but if you're a grower looking for agronomy details, this isn't it. As a buyer's guide, it's probably a five-star book; as a 'complete' handbook, it feels incomplete.

As a serious home baker, not a business, I found this book incredibly informative but also a little overwhelming. The ripening room procedures are overkill for me, but the specs on choosing for baking versus eating fresh were very useful. It's written for a professional, but I still got my money's worth from the troubleshooting and storage chapters.

This is a no-nonsense professional manual. The section on interpreting box labels and understanding the grower-buyer relationship was an eye-opener. It's not trying to sell you anything, just giving you the operational facts. It sits on my desk now, and I've already tabbed several pages for quick reference.