Just look at this banana-shaped, banana-flavored ice-cream in an edible gelatin banana-skin.

Just look at it.

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: bananas • brazil • Food • just look at it • not food

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http://asterozoa.tumblr.com/ Kat

We have something like this in the PH. The ice cream is vanilla, though, and the gelatin, for some reason, is grape-flavored (but still yellow).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gjgBI-EtBEc/TdPtj6RM_0I/AAAAAAAAAbY/9sJpiRtISjc/s320/DSC07457.jpg
Jake0748

I’m looking, I’m looking… dang and I’m ready for dessert now too.
http://twitter.com/davesgeekyideas Dave Delisle

They should market this to Arrested Development fans.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  Meet me down at the big yellow joint.
robuluz

So, edible packaging was developed to reduce packaging waste, but the whole product is then put into inedible packaging to sell. So the product comes in inedible edible packaging packaging.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  Uhh I’m sure the skin is just a novelty and never was ment to be packaging. Plus I don’t think gelatin is a good barrier to germs, nor good for making frozen things not stick together.
  - wobinidan
    
    I kind of have to agree. Edible packaging surely never meant the outside of the package, the part that gets handled by workers and shoppers and all their bacteria ridden hands? There aren’t many foods I can think of that we stick straight in our mouths after they’re been openly on display for people to fondle.
    
    Apples come to mind, maybe lemon zest. Not much else.
    - Jerril
      
      Normally you wash apples. And lemons if you’re zesting them, or if you’re like me and just eat citrus peel along with the flesh.
      - Donald Petersen
        
        Apples, pears, nectarines, plums, peaches, carrots, grapes. I nearly always neglect to wash any of ‘em. I customarily polish my apples on my shirt.
        
        Though I do wash my taters. Mostly ’cause they just look dirty.
        
        But your suspicions are correct: I’m gonna die.
    - Boundegar
      
      They taste better, fondled. Try it!
  - robuluz
    
    Uh oh… now I have to get all ‘From the article’ on you guys.
    
    From the article:
    
    The edible packaging idea claims to be a reaction against the over-packaging of foods, which generates a huge amount of waste.
    That concept is the brainchild of Harvard University professor David Edwards and Robert Connelly, who wanted to recreate natural foods such as fruits enclosed in an edible skin.
    - http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
      
      (not sure how I missed that)
      
      I can see biodegradable packaging (which I’m sure gelatin is), but still, that’s going to be contaminated unless it’s produced-and-sold in a single place like a cafe. Shipping is so unbelievably dirty.
      - robuluz
        
        It is a terrible idea, there is no doubt about it.
http://twitter.com/AwesomeRobot AwesomeRobot

I saw these all over the place in Beijing, they taste really strange. Not a hint of banana flavor.

Nestle was behind that specific variety, they were called NaNa.
- http://twitter.com/trnc Trnc
  
  The word “笨(dumb)” in Cantonese sounds like “bun”
  “笨NaNa” is pronounced ”bun-na-na”
  Get it?
  - Jonathan Roberts
    
    The same character is “ben” in Mandarin, so it works in Beijing too.
rattypilgrim

I don’t want to look at it!
sluggo

Kirk Cameron was right!
http://redesigned.com redesigned

fake banana flavor is the most disgusting flavor to have ever been invented.
- UnderachievingSheep
  
  No, that would be strawberry. Especially fake cream/ diary, fake strawberry flavored products. The mere thought triggers my gag reflex.
  - http://redesigned.com redesigned
    
    fake strawberry isn’t revolting to my tastebuds/pallet, but the chemical cocktail that they typically use is disturbing. see my comment to luther below.
    
    my daughter *hates* fake cherry…but loves fake banana and strawberry. funny how artificial flavors can trigger such strong aversions.
    - http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
      
      My sister and I hate grape flavoring while my mother loves it but hates the watermelon one.
    - wobinidan
      
      I have to agree that fake banana is the worst. Also, some industrial areas have the fake banana smell, which is as interesting as it is alarming. Anyone know what industrial process releases that smell? I’m thinking paint or glue or something sticky like that.
      - http://redesigned.com redesigned
        
        many industrial machine lubricants have that fake banana smell. have you ever smelled tri-flow? It is the Amyl Acetate. Several other light machine oils use this ingredient as well.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Linley-Lee/665497022 Linley Lee
    
    I hate fake strawberry too. Don’t mind the other fake stuff.
- Luther Blissett
  
  Actually, synthetic banana flavour is identical to one of the components of natural banana flavour. You are missing the rest. Just as Sheep here misses the rest of the real strawberry. And I always miss the rest of vanilla. Vanillin is just not the real thing.
  - http://redesigned.com redesigned
    
    Actually, it isn’t as simple as artificial flavors being the same as the real ones just missing components. In fact that is seldom the case.
    
    Most artificial banana flavor is 3-methylbutyl acetate (isopentyl acetate), like the bananas in runts candy. same with the fake banana circus peanuts. i can’t stand the stuff. bleck.
    
    The chemical you are thinking of is isoamyl acetate, which is the primary flavor component of real bananas and is used in some of the better “fake banana” products, but is not nearly as common and more expensive to synthesize. it doesn’t trigger the same disgust to my pallet as the former chemical. Don’t ask me why.
    
    quote: “The ester 3-methylbutyl acetate (isopentyl acetate) is an artificial banana scent/flavor. While we perceive the smell of this compound as the smell of bananas, the chemical is not responsible for the scent/flavor of real bananas. Banana candies (runts for example) use 3-methylbutyl acetate as the artificial flavoring and any true banana lover could tell you that the candies taste different than the fruit.”
    
    I agree vanillin can’t compare to a good vanilla. even the vanilla subspecies affects the flavor of real vanilla as do the growing conditions. i personally prefer Madagascar vanilla, but many prefer Tahitian or Mexican.
    
    Most artificial strawberry flavoring components again are not components of real strawberry flavor. The most common artificial strawberry flavor is very complex and actually a cocktail of over 50 chemicals: Amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglydi-hydroxyphyenyl-2-butanone, alpha-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptane, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl, alcohol, eosw, rum ether, gamma-unde-calactone, vanillin, and solvent.
    - Donald Petersen
      
      This whole discussion comes up every month or two around here (just look at ‘em), but I don’t mind saying it again: I like bananas and I like fake-banana scents and flavors (like one finds in banana pudding and banana candies), but they don’t taste or smell anything alike to me.
      
      Fake grape is another one. Grape popsicles, grape sodas (no matter what brand; I swear they’re indistinguishable from each other), Dimetapp… I love them all, but they don’t taste even remotely like any grape variety I’ve ever tasted.
      - http://redesigned.com redesigned
        
        it is funny how we’ve become accustom to and expect certain fake flavors. if i bought a grape soda and it tasted like sparkling grape juice, i’d probably say wtf?
        
        an even deeper mystery is why is fake raspberry more often then not bright smurf blue?
      - Donald Petersen
        
        Good point. Grape soda shouldn’t taste like grape juice (and in my experience, never does.) Similarly, I’ve tasted one orange soda that tasted faintly like actual orange juice, and boy, was that awful. Don’t get me wrong, I like orange juice, but not when I’m expecting orange soda.
      - penguinchris
        
        I’m with you on fake banana taste – they’re clearly nothing alike and if anything I actually prefer it over the real thing… plus I am itchy-mouth allergic to real bananas anyway. However, I think it is the only one that really works for me.
        
        Fake grape I don’t like – it tastes like prune juice to me. Prune juice I don’t mind, actually, in the right context… but not as a sweet treat.
        
        I guess the one other one I do like is fake cherry, but it depends on how it’s used. A lot of times it’s quite bad, and there seems to be a larger variance when it comes to fake cherry, unlike fake grape as you were discussing.
      - Donald Petersen
        
        Yeah, I believe you’re right. My taste buds are kinda crippled, but as I say, all fake grape flavors taste virtually identical to me. Cherry, however, is all over the map. I like the good-fake-cherry better than real-cherry, but bad-fake-cherry (like cough syrup) is retchtastic.
  - retchdog
    
    cooks illustrated did a taste test of vanillin vs. real vanilla.
    
    overall, vanilla did much better with custards and ice cream.
    
    however for baked goods, vanillin did just as well or even better. either the heat breaks down the secondary flavors, or they are just masked anyway.
    
    is it worth keeping both around for this reason? maybe not, but i don’t feel as bad when i get artificial vanilla in cookies and cakes any more.
- http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers
  
  No, fake grape. By a mile.
speleothem

Further down in the article, it mentions another example of remarkable packaging, the “ScaldoPack Self-Heating Pouch.” Love the name.
oasisob1

They could sell out of ice cream trucks and at food stands without the extra packaging. But forget about just looking at them, let’s eat!
- DisGuest
  
  After reading about and seeing the documentary on the Iceman, I wouldn’t eat any ice cream product that wasn’t packaged, out of a truck.
  http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-10-08/features/9310080225_1_iceman-ice-cream-new-jersey-turnpike
  - http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
    
    eh, just wash the blood of the plastic, it’s good as long as it didn’t get inside.
Bill McGonigle

Is this really gelatin? I would have expected this to be merely a long mochi ice cream, which is already a well-accepted and developed (and delicious) product. And since mochi is made from rice, it’s cheaper and acceptable to vegetarians.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  A lot of asian gelatin is made from seaweed. (Agar/carrageenan)
  - Jerril
    
    Very important thing to know as a teacher, btw; you can’t let parents bring gelatin candies to school for the class willy-nilly because of the possibility that it’s animal sourced (and almost definitely not kosher or halal either). Some of the kids are taught from a very VERY early age that “gummie” candies are forbidden and it causes a four year old a LOT of stress to turn down candy for reasons they don’t fully understand yet.
    
    EDIT: My point being that making the alternatives known to parents can be very valuable. And that’s the big one.
Damian Barajas

This is sold by Nestle In Mexico, I’ve never tried it since I hate artificial banana flavor but my son loves it.
- http://redesigned.com redesigned
  
  i also hate artificial banana flavor but my daughter loves it, maybe i’ll have her give these a try.