Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
40 percent favored ''fully ripe''; and only 6 percent selected bananas with
''green tips.'' A significant majority (75 percent) favored ''large'' bananas
over ''medium'' and ''small'' fruit, but this preferencevaried by region and
income. The study found that six out of ten consumers were not con-
sciousofanyseasonforbananasandpurchasedthemthroughouttheyear.
Finally,75percentofthepeopleinterviewed''never''haddi
cultyfinding
fruit of acceptable quality, leading the authors to conclude that the con-
sumer was ''not so harsh of judgment as thosewhoknowbanana quality,''
i.e., fruit jobbers and retailers.
117
Indeed, virtually all of the jobbers interviewed spoke at length about
fruit quality. Premium bananas were large, scar-free, and ripened evenly.
Forexample,aWorcester,Massachusetts-baseddealerknownasNick''the
Banana Man'' explained that ''retail sales are better if the fruit is really
'fancy,' clean fruit in nice, fat bunches,'' an opinion from which few job-
bers dissented.
118
They used terms such as ''scarred,'' and ''string beans'' to
describe poor fruit. As was the case with consumers, jobbers apparently
did not place much value on flavor, sweetness, or texture when describ-
ing fruit quality. Instead, they frequently identified bananas on the basis
of the visual appearance of the fruit and, to a certain extent, its port of
origin.
Reflecting a trend started in the late nineteenth century, nine-handed
fruit bunches garnered the highest prices in the 1920s. For example, the
Tsones Brothers—competitors of Nick in Worcester—stated that they
only traded nine-handed bunches. They also had started to buy ''selected
fruitbaggedinthetropics''whichtheyadmittedcostmorebutwas''good,
clean fruit'' that arrived in better condition than unwrapped bananas.
119
A jobber with a number of chain store clients in Lawrence, Massachu-
setts, also sought out nine-handed bunches because the customers liked
''large fruit.''
120
In contrast, dealers servicing stores with a working-class
clientele preferred smaller bunches. For example, in Lowell, Massachu-
setts, long-time banana dealer Joseph Fielding said that ''everyone'' in
the struggling mill town bought ''sevens'' because Fielding could not get
''a penny more'' for larger bunches.
121
Another Lawrence-based banana
dealer, George Lampros, concurred with Fielding that stores retailing ba-
nanas by the pound sold seven- and eight-handed bunches at the same
price, but he bought mostly eights since they ''showed up better'' and be-
cause''peopledon'tbuysevens.''InAtlanta,Georgia—''adumpingground
for bananas,'' in the words of one wholesaler—retailers sought inexpen-
sive, small fruit that they could sell by the dozen. Consequently, the fruit
companies usually sent small bunches (fives, sixes, and sevens) and/or
