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| Here you can get to know more about the origin of your fruit: |
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The difference matters |
You can find many brands of bananas in a supermarket. But only few are organically cultivated in harmony with man and nature - and these do not include those of large suppliers.
You can find the valid ecological standards for organic cultivation here. |
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| Transport |
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Transporting bananas is a question of timing and an uninterrup-ted cooling process
of exactly 13.2° C. The people who work with Golden Bio must be fast, and at the same time, take great care.
Learn more about the stages a Golden Bio passes through on route to Europe,
here. |
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Control |
Golden Bio is, of course, more expensive in the production than conventional or mass produced produce. But as consumers, you want to be on the safe side and be sure that everything is the way it should be. That’s why lots of people out there are monitoring and keeping an eye on everything. You can read about who they are exactly here |
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| The difference matters! |
Golden Bio bananas are different than conventional bananas because
- they are cultivated without the use of chemical-synthetic pesticides
- weeding is done by hand on a daily basis
- no easily soluble, mineral fertilizers are used
- instead, the organic activity of the soil is preserved by using
plant or animal fertilisation
- the crops are rotated
- to prevent the development of harmful monocultures
- they are guaranteed void of any genetically changed components
- pest control is carried out by protecting useful insects and by controlled release of their natural enemie
Organic cultivation ensures both healthy growth of the fruit and an unpolluted environment. As well as this, the banana farmers are in a natural, safe environment as work on banana farms is largely done by hand.
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Transport - the banana getting its beauty sleep |
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Bananas are very sensitive merchandise. Immediately after the harvest, when the bananas are still green, a fast maturation process sets in by which the starch converts to sugar. Speed is everything at this stage, so that the bananas are not overripe when they reach the consumer. That’s why Golden Bio bananas must be processed and transported speedily but with the greatest of care.
Immediately after harvesting, the bananas are brought to a piling station and separated from the phylum (Bunch). Four to eight bananas are called a cluster. The bananas must be thoroughly sorted because only the best fruit with a minimum length of 14 cm and a diameter of at least 2.7 cm can later receive the Golden Bio label. The selected bananas are then immersed in a cleaning water bath and cooled to 13° C After this, the bananas get their characteristic Golden Bio label and are packed into cartons
of approx. 20 kilos.
The stacked cartons are transported in pre-cooled containers by road or rail to the port. The strict time schedule ensures that the bananas arrive there at the latest 36 hours after harvesting.
The cartons are loaded onto a cargo ship and the direct journey to Europe begins immediately.
It is especially important that the bananas are transported at exactly 13.2° C If the temperature is lower, the fruit turns a greyish colour and if the temperature is higher the maturity process
continues and the whole cargo is worthless.
The Golden Bio banana gets its beauty sleep – so to speak - on the 12 to 16-day journey.
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It’s better to be sure than sorry! |
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On arrival in Europe, the Golden Bio banana undergoes further strict controls.
First, the cargo is checked to see whether the specified temperature was continuously
adhered to during the journey; that the produce is free of transit damage and
whether the all the bananas are still a green colour. Samples are taken to see whether the bananas have the specified length and diameter and if the visual impression is enough to suffice the classification as Golden Bio bananas. A random sample is taken and sent to a laboratory for chemical analysis.
Only when Golden Bio bananas have passed all these monitoring stages, can they be delivered to the shops. One more important step still has to be taken because the banana clusters are still completely green. They get their yellow colour in so-called maturity chambers where they are carefully awakened from their beauty sleep. The maturation process is initiated at a temperature of 18° C and the addition of natural ethylene maturity gases. It takes four to seven days until Golden Bio bananas get their beautiful golden-yellow colour.
As a Golden Bio connoisseur, you can recognize the optimal maturity of the fruit when it has an even, firm yellow skin and both ends are light green.
Golden Bio bananas are a little sweeter when there are small brown dots on the skin. This indicates that all the starch in the fruit has been converted into sugar and the maturation process has ended. A banana that looks like that should be eaten immediately.
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