Short answer: bananas are alkaline-forming, and the two kinds on Dr. Sebi's approved list are the burro banana and the baby banana.
That is the whole of it on the guide. What most people want next is the practical part — where those two are sold, what they taste like, how to tell when they are ready, and what to do on a week when neither is in the shop. This page is mostly that.
The numbers
Yellow bananas measure around pH 5.00 to 5.29 — mildly acidic in the hand, like most fruit.
Published PRAL tables put banana at −5.5, which makes it solidly alkaline-forming once metabolised, and one of the better performers among common fruits. For reference, that figure is for banana generally; PRAL tables do not break the fruit down by cultivar.
Which bananas are Dr. Sebi approved?
The nutritional guide lists burro banana and baby banana. The burro is the short, stubby, squared-off one with flat sides. The baby banana is the small sweet one, three to four inches long, often sold as niño or lady finger. Those are the two names on the list, and in this framework they are what "banana" means.
How banana cultivars are described
A little background, offered as enrichment rather than as a rule. Cultivated bananas are catalogued by which wild species contributed their chromosome sets. Musa acuminata is the A genome; Musa balbisiana is the B genome.
- The burro is ABB — one set from M. acuminata and two from M. balbisiana.
- The Cavendish is AAA — three sets, all from M. acuminata.
Both are triploid, which is why both are seedless: three chromosome sets make balanced gametes nearly impossible, so the plant sets almost no viable seed and the fruit fills with flesh instead. Both are grown from suckers pulled off the parent plant. Wild seeded bananas, by contrast, are packed with hard black seeds and carry very little pulp; they are not eaten.
Some history alongside it: the burro is an older cultivar, grown at small scale across the Caribbean and Latin America, one of hundreds of local banana varieties that families have selected and kept for generations. The Cavendish is a single clone grown as a global monoculture, selected for shipping and shelf life, and it dominates the export trade so completely that one disease is a standing threat to the whole crop. That is context worth having when you are standing in front of a fruit box.
Where to buy burro and baby bananas
They are far easier to find than people expect, once you know who stocks them.
- Latin American and Caribbean grocers. The most reliable source by a wide margin. Look on or under the plantain table rather than in the main banana display — burros are usually boxed loose and sold by weight. Ask for buró, orinoco, chunky or horse banana; all four names point at the same fruit.
- Asian supermarkets. Strong for baby bananas, usually sold in whole small hands wrapped in film.
- Larger mainstream supermarkets. Baby bananas turn up near the plantains and speciality fruit, often labelled niño, lady finger or "mini banana". Burros appear less often but do show up in stores with a big Latin section.
- Farmers' markets and box schemes in warmer regions, and online tropical fruit sellers who ship green by the box — worth it if you are buying for a household or want to ripen a batch in stages.
Cost. Expect to pay somewhat more than commodity Cavendish, usually in the region of one and a half to two and a half times per pound, because the volumes are smaller. Buying a whole hand rather than a few loose fruit is almost always cheaper, and green fruit is usually cheaper than ripe.
What they taste like
Different enough from a supermarket banana that it is worth setting expectations.
Burro: firmer and denser, with a distinct lemony tang behind the sweetness. The texture holds together rather than turning to paste. People who find ordinary bananas cloying often prefer it.
Baby: sweeter and more intensely banana-flavoured than a Cavendish, with a creamier, softer flesh and a thin skin. They are the easier of the two to love straight away, and the easier to hand to children.
Ripeness: how to tell
This is where most people go wrong first time, because the burro does not read like a normal banana.
Burro. Green burros are starchy and flat-tasting. Wait for the skin to go fully yellow and then to speckle with black — the flesh should give under gentle pressure and the lemon note comes forward. A burro that looks too far gone by Cavendish standards is often exactly right. At room temperature, allow roughly four to seven days from green.
Baby. Ripe at solid yellow, best with a light freckling. They move fast, two to three days from yellow to soft, so buy in smaller quantities more often.
To speed it up: a paper bag, folded shut, with an apple inside. To slow it down: separate the fruit from the hand and keep them apart on the counter.
How to use them
- Eating out of hand. Baby bananas are the natural choice — one is a snack, two is a small breakfast.
- Blending. Either works, and banana is what makes an alkaline smoothie taste like something. One ripe burro or two baby bananas per serving, with spring water, and a handful of berries. Freeze peeled, sliced, ripe fruit on a tray for an hour before bagging it — frozen banana gives a smoothie body without anything else added.
- Baking and mashing. Burro comes into its own here. Its lower moisture and firmer flesh mean it does not water down a batter, and the tang survives cooking. Mash very ripe fruit for a spelt or teff loaf, or slice and warm it in a dry pan.
- Grilled or roasted. Halve a barely ripe burro in its skin, cut side down in a hot dry pan for three minutes. It caramelises and firms.
- Chopped into a bowl of walnuts and berries, where the burro's firmness stops it turning to mush.
Storage
Keep both on the counter, out of direct sun, until ripe. Never refrigerate an unripe banana — the cold stalls ripening and the skin blackens without the flesh improving. Once ripe, a burro will hold in the fridge for two to three days; the skin will go dark, which is cosmetic. Beyond that, peel, slice and freeze. Frozen burro keeps around three months and is better in a blender than a fresh one.
When you cannot find either one
Some weeks nothing turns up. A few options that keep you on the guide:
- Buy green and ripen at home. Green burros travel and keep well, so a box bought when you see one will cover several weeks if you stage it.
- Freeze ahead. The simplest fix. When you find a good supply, buy double and freeze half in single-serving bags.
- Swap the job, not the fruit. For sweetness and body in a smoothie, use soft ripe mango, sapodilla or soaked dates with a little avocado for texture. For mashing into a bake, cooked squash or soft ripe pear does similar work.
- Ask the shop. Grocers who do not stock burros will often order a case if you ask; they arrive green and keep.
Common questions
Are plantains approved?
Green plantains do not appear on the guide. Burro bananas are sometimes mistaken for small plantains because they look similar; they are not the same fruit. A burro is soft and sweet when ripe and can be eaten raw, which a cooking plantain is not.
Are bananas good for acid reflux?
At pH 5.0 to 5.3 they are among the less acidic fruits, and they are commonly tolerated. That is a comfort question rather than an alkalinity one, and reflux is worth discussing with a doctor rather than managing by food list alone.
Do burro bananas have more minerals?
Published analyses do not show a meaningful difference between cultivars. Both are a good source of potassium and magnesium.
What about banana in a smoothie?
Burro or baby, and it is one of the most useful things in the blender. Banana is what gives an alkaline smoothie sweetness and thickness without anything added.
Are red bananas approved?
Red bananas are not named on the guide. The two listed are burro and baby.
How many is a normal portion?
One burro or two baby bananas is a typical serving, which is roughly what one supermarket banana gives you.
How to use it
The workable habit is to buy burros green and in quantity whenever you find them, keep a bowl ripening on the counter, and move whatever is about to turn into the freezer in peeled slices. That gives you fruit to eat, fruit to blend, and fruit to bake with, from one trip. Baby bananas are best bought small and often, since they ripen quickly.
This is food, not a treatment for any condition. If you have symptoms or a diagnosis, see your doctor — eating well sits alongside medical care, not instead of it.
Related
- Is garlic alkaline, and why is it excluded?
- Is sea moss alkaline?
- A 7-day meal plan built from the approved list
- The complete approved food list
Not sure whether what's in your hand is on the list? The Ackaline app scans any food and tells you whether it's approved and why — free to start. The full list with the reasoning behind each exclusion is in The Alkaline Healing Blueprint.
For education, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before making significant changes to how you eat.
