Red, like the colour of the earth in these parts, is this variety of banana. Locally known as the kappa pazham, the reddish banana has its own cheerleaders in Thiruvananthapuram, who rave about their favourite variety of plantain. While Kerala is certainly no ‘banana republic’, it is rich in plantain wealth. But the kappa pazham is usually confined to the southern parts of the State and bordering regions of Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. This expensive and finicky-to-grow family of plantain is extensively cultivated in these parts. Perhaps that is why the kappa pazham has a special place in the menu if it is a red-letter day in the personal calendar of many city residents.
When I first came to live in the city nearly a decade ago, among the many novel things I came across was the red banana, a.k.a. the kappa pazham. I got to hear a lot about its benefits... about how it is a coolant during summer, how it helps digestion, aids weight loss, is good for kids and so on.
Wikipedia supplemented the facts with information on how these bananas are rich in potassium and Vitamin C, which is good for immunity.
So, is that why city residents go gaga about this particular variety when there are so many different kinds of the fruit easily available in the market? And more versatile too! Poet V. Madhusoodanan Nair, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, says: “This banana has always enjoyed a VIP status... probably because of its colour and distinctive creamy flavour. It is the highlight on the platter when you have high profile guests at home. It has ostentation value as it is quite expensive when compared to other varieties of plantain.”
Aficionados of the fruit go into raptures while gushing about its flavour. Writer Chandramathi is more to the point. She describes it as Travancore’s fruit. “I just love them. So delicious! My father used to cultivate the variety on the banks of the Vellayani lake. Now we cultivate it on our land. I was so fond of it as a kid that I would not allow my mother to serve it to guests. One is enough to quench thirst and hunger. In fact, my daughter, when she was a kid, used to have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My husband belongs to Kozhenchery in Pathanamthitta district where this plantain was not grown and so we used to carry bunches for relatives,” she remembers.
The fruit is endemic to the southern parts of Kerala and Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. Red bananas are grown extensively in Mylachil in Aryancode panchayat, Neyyattinkara, Kattakkada, Balaramapuram and Parassala. So it is an object of curiosity to people who are new to southern Kerala. An old-timer remembers her first trip to the city two decades ago for a wedding and how her family was enamoured by the look of the fruit. “We packed bunches of it to take back home,” she recollects.
Perhaps it is its rich colouring that gets it a special place on the menu during weddings and auspicious occasions. In fact, actor-producer Maniyan Pillai has an anecdote to recount in this connection. “In my time, when a young man went visiting to meet a prospective bride at her home, invariably the kappa pazham was one of the eats that would be served. I clearly remember the ones that were served when I went for such a meeting. In fact, the kappa pazham is the only thing I remember about that visit. It was kept along with the sweets and confectioneries. She is a beauty, you know!” he laughs. “Moreover, if you find bunches of red plantain decorating the entrance of wedding venues, then it must be a high-profile wedding.”
An outsider
However, despite the hype, this variety is not used for religious functions and rituals. Is it because it is an imported one, one that crossed the seas and came to Kerala? “It might have come from African countries where such red bananas grow in abundance. The general assumption is that it is called ‘kappa’ because it came by ‘kappal’ (ship in Malayalam). There is no mention of this variety in any of the early Malayalam literary works either. For instance, Kunchan Nambiar, whose works are a treasure trove of traditional dishes, does not have a single reference to this banana,” points out Madhusoodanan Nair.
“The taste of these bananas and the colour of the peel differ from one region to another. You get the vella kappa with yellow skin, which is a naturally genetically modified variety,” explains Mary Simon, district manager (Thiruvananthapuram), Vegetable and Fruits Promotion Council Kerala.
Banana merchants of Manacaud market depend on Thuckalay in Tamil Nadu. “Bunches of red plantain arrive twice a week. Nowadays we are getting it from Theni, Ootty and Mettupalayam as well,” says Anilkumar, a trader at Manacaud market.
Those brought from Tamil Nadu, however, lack the wine-red colour of the native kinds and are larger than the locally grown ones.
What is strange is that these scarlet bananas are almost absent in other parts of Kerala. “We planted it at Banana Research Station in Thrissur as an experiment. Although we got the harvest, the flavour and colour was not the same,” says C.S. Jayachandran Nair, former dean-in-charge, College of Agriculture, Vellayani. Moreover, there is hardly any market for these bananas, also known as chenkadali, in other parts of Kerala, he adds. The duration it takes to harvest and its vulnerability to viral attacks might be why growers refrain from cultivating it on a large scale.
Capital’s pride
However no amount of difficulties have stopped farmers such as Jayaprakash, one of the leading producers of this banana, from cultivating it. He grows them on nearly six acres of land at Mylachil. “I have lost count of the number of years I have been growing kappa pazham. Even though you get these bananas from Tamil Nadu, they can’t match the locally-harvested bananas in taste and colour!” he gushes.
