A British couple visiting Australia has been confused and befuddled after seeing bananas at Coles with waxed tips. Supermarkets around the world will likely have little ways of doing things that would shock travellers but be perfectly normal for locals.
It appears the red-waxed bananas is that thing in Australia, with Brits Mel and Phil stopping in their tracks last month to take a video of them. Coles told Yahoo Lifestyle the reason why some bananas have the red tips and others don’t.
“Our Northern Queensland grown Red Tipped Bananas are to indicate they are grown under specific conditions with limited intervention and with pesticide-free farming systems.
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Mel and Phil were filled with questions after seeing them at their local Coles.
“What does this mean..? Do they taste different? Are they also candles?” they said.
But it seems that Mel and Phil weren’t alone in their confusion.
Their Instagram post was flooded with Aussies also asking for help in working out the origins of the red tips.
“I honestly don’t know but I thought it stopped them from ripening too fast,” wrote one Aussie.
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“I always thought they meant the expensive banana,” added another.
“I’m Australian and I don’t even know lol,” said a third.
Some even joked that they’re the banana version of Christian Louboutin shoes, which are the footwear with the iconic red sole.
What do the red-tipped bananas mean?
They aren’t more expensive just because they have the red tips.
But they will set you back more than your standard bananas, which retail for $3.50 per kilogram at the moment.
The red-tipped ones are $5.90 per kilogram. However, there’s a good reason why they’re pricier.
The red wax indicates they have received an ecoganic certification, which was a scheme developed by Far North Queensland farmers Frank and Dianne back in 1998.
The red tips, much like Louboutins, are trademarked, and have been sold internationally in Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.
The bananas’ growing environment allows farmers to control disease and pests with “minimal intervention”.
“When nature is guided to find its own balance, the result is a banana with better taste and shelf life, more density of flavour and, more importantly, creating a farm that can be commercially viable alongside true sustainable farming,” Frank said last year.
“Every element we have out there – from ants, butterflies, insects, microbes, fungi and bacteria – they all live together and support each other.
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“That’s what nature created to keep our environment and this whole earth healthy. There comes a point where we have to respect it and look after it.”
Frank decided to go with the red wax as an indicator of the ecoganic certification as he knew it would be a conversation starter.
“We wanted to get people asking the question, what is the red tip all about?” he said.
“So we chose the red food grade wax instead of stickers because it is not only unique and stands out, it is also sustainable, which is what Ecoganic farming is all about.”
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