Orlando Rojas works in Dole’s research department. Find out what his working day is like.

Most Europeans are only familiar with Cavendish bananas, the main commercial variety. But in fact there are over 1000 different varieties of banana, only about half of which are edible, and some only popular in exotic countries. All these varieties grow in the wild. Some are just as sweet as the Cavendish variety but have a different flavour and texture. Others, like plantains (or cooking bananas), can be prepared like vegetables. Some varieties look very attractive but are not edible.

To produce nothing but the best fruit, Dole grows its own banana plants from seedlings. We select the best parent plants from the whole plantation. The suckers are propagated in sterile jars in the laboratory. The selected plants are washed, split and then placed in individual jars. In this way, one plant is used to produce many new ones. Every 4 weeks the growing plant is split again into more young plants. Using this method, one parent plant can produce between 600 and 800 banana plants a year.