Primera.
The original banana.
Gros Michel — the variety the world grew until blight erased it in the 1950s. We grow it again, by hand, at altitude in the Guatemalan highlands.
- Variety
- Gros Michel
- Origin
- Guatemalan highlands
- Elevation
- 1,400 m
- Lot
- ————
What happened to it
Every banana you've eaten is the understudy.
Until the 1950s, the world ate one banana: the Gros Michel. Bigger, sweeter, more aromatic — and grown as a single global monoculture. When Panama disease swept the plantations, it took the whole variety with it. The industry replaced it with the Cavendish, the banana in every supermarket today. It was chosen because it survived the blight, not because it tasted better.
The one we lost was the one worth eating.
What a mountain does to a banana
Grown slow, high, and by hand.
At 1,400 metres the fruit ripens cooler and slower than anything off a lowland plantation, and the flavor concentrates. The result is a banana that eats like a different fruit: creamy to the point of custard, denser and more structured, with a deeper, more aromatic sweetness.
From the ground
The kind of thing a chef puts on the menu by name.
"________________________________________"
— Christian [Surname], [Role], Guatemala
"________________________________________"
— [Name], [Role — e.g. Packing Lead / Agronomist], Guatemala
[ Logo strip — hidden until restaurant/group logos exist ]
Taste the original.
We work with chefs, specialty grocers, and trade buyers. Sampling is how this fruit sells itself.
Request samples