Meet another member of the Banana Family (not the Cherry family! Ha!)

We all know what a banana is.

Most of us could pick out a plantain if we saw one.

But a rulo?

What the heck is a rulo?? Well, today I discovered there is third member of the banana family growing in the Dominican Republic... and this one is short, squatty and has quite an attitude. It isn't in most grocery stores in the capital, but you go out into the country and you can find them in abundance. Note the order in the photo from the top: banana (in the DR it is called a guineo), plantain and rulo.


I visited the buzzing motorcycle-filled town of Azua today, and met my new friend rulo. In addition, I tried my first goal meat and saw the first organic banana fields (in the world!) to be exported to the US/Europe. The goat meat is actually lean and pretty tasty, and the organic bananas were fascinating. I guess the flavor really is richer (you haven't tried a banana until you've tried an organic one in the DR!) and the bunch of bananas is covered with a special plastic bag to ensure the bananas protection and organic-ness.

What was the reason i was in Azua? Well, I'm going to write about that in my next blog entry. But for now, at least you will know how to differenciate bananas from their cousins. We'll have a quiz one of these days. :)