Introducing the StrawBanany – Crafting the Perfect Smoothie

A Note about the blog posts from the future [CE 2224]: In January of 2021, with Perseverance due to land on Mars the next month, NASA activated their experimental Quantum Transmitter. The transmitter was designed to communicate with Perseverance, without regard to location and at faster than light speeds—near real-time. Unfortunately, they lost the connection after the initialization routine was completed. However, as an unintended consequence, NASA connected with a specific locus in the space-time continuum located on the Moon in 2224. That locus was the storage device of the quantum computer of a popular blog site. It is from that blog site that these blog entries are extracted. I hope you enjoy a peek into our future, and hopefully, I’m not violating some temporal directive. So far, no visit from the time cops.

Guest Author: Yosef Slor, Director of Crop Development, Luna Agricultural Research Cooperative

Originally Posted: Monday, June 28, 2224 (Earth Standard Calendar)

It is my great pleasure to introduce the latest new fruit developed by the Luna Agricultural Research Cooperative: The StrawBanany.

The StrawBanany is a vine-grown fruit the size of a large apple, approximately eight centimeters in diameter, with the flavor of strawberries and bananas. The geneticist preserved the strawberry form, and we hope restaurants and customers will appreciate the dark red color and large fruit size that will enhance their displays and dishes.

The Cooperative developed the new fruit using engineered strawberry cuttings imported from the Volcani Institute-Agricultural Research Organization in Israel. The Volcani Institute has a centuries-long history of introducing new fruits and vegetables to the commercial and retail markets, and the Cooperative is grateful for its participation in bringing this new fruit to market.

The Cooperative has been carefully engineering the new fruit in Sector 5B of the Plinius hydroponic farming chamber. Over several years, genetic engineers have increased the fruit size, developed a fruiting protocol that does not require pollinators, and enhanced the root structure to optimize the efficient uptake of nutrients from the hydroponic fluids.

One of the harder inscriptions on the base fruit’s genome was coding for the metabolic processes that produce the distinct banana aroma generated by isoamyl acetate. This organic compound has the propensity of masking other flavors and aromas and making everything taste like bananas. The engineers were able to modulate the new fruit’s production of isoamyl acetate and retain the distinct taste of the strawberry. It’s a popular combination we hope our customers find enjoyable in a single fruit.

As an unexpected byproduct of engineering the flavor, the engineers found they could significantly increase the nutritional value of the fruit. For those who look for healthy nutrition and great taste, each StrawBanany fruit is a complete breakfast. All in all, a single fruit for breakfast comes in at 500 calories and provides 25 grams of healthy fat, a healthy dose of omega-3 fatty acids, 56 grams of total carbohydrates, 10 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar, and 24 grams of protein. Eat it right off the vine, or throw it in a blender—you don’t even need to add water.

We hope the public will enjoy our new fruit. It should begin appearing at public dining halls, restaurants and available for purchase in the next several weeks. We expect year-round production depending on demand.

Enjoy and stay healthy. For more information, please visit LunaAgricultural.ag.luna/StrawBanany.

[Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this story are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual institutions or actual events is purely coincidental.]