need good tasting banana for zone 8

we currently have a type of banana that is not edible and would like to try a different variety...the ones we have are grown in the ground and grow to about 18' tall coming back year after year...i feel as long as we are growing them we might as will be able to eat them...just don't know if there is a variety for this zone that is edible...thanks for any help...virginia

Good luck with that. What you're growing needs about 18 months to fruit with out a frost so that will not work.

Check out Dwarf Orinoco.
Another http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59479/

You have a shoot at getting bananas.

thanks for the info...i will try this variety...we do get fruit on the ones we grow here but after turning yellow and almost black they had a taste and consistency similar to a cucumber...i don't know the variety i have it was given to me from a friend who was growing them in jacksonville fl...i've grown them here on edisto since 95...virginia

I just started this variety as well. I planted it right up on my house in a cubby area to try and get it through the winter. The Ice Cream banana is all the rage right now. I have yet to try one. Good luck.

I agree with CoreHHI’s comments on good luck. It’s tough enough growing them in Zone 9. Bananas need uninterrupted temperatures to produce the large banana stalks that you see in the tropics. Here in zone 9 the most that I have ever produced per stalk is 30 bananas and that was on an Orinoco. There are two types of Orinoco bananas:
One is the regular Orinoco that grows from 16 to 20 feet and the Dwarf Orinoco 5 to 7 feet and both have been my best producers. The California gold and Dwarf Brazilian are also good choices. I have produced a few bananas on my Ice Cream but I am not sure that it is as cold hardy as the Orinoco. It does have outstanding tasting fruit but in reality we are only measuring cold hardy in just a narrow band of degrees F. The worst of all bananas that I have grown is the Williams hybrid. It will fry at the first frost only to recover and fry again before fruiting.
Temperatures lower than 50 deg F, equals zero fruit filling activity and anything above 95 deg F, is also a zero fruit filling activity.
I am trying the Rajapuri this year, which also has a reputation for being cold hardy, but again the Orinoco dwarf, or full size is a very good choice.
Oldude

I have not tried Rajapuri bananas but I have been told they are cold hardy with a good taste. I grow bananas for show not for go, LOL. If I get something edible it's a bonus.

thanks for the input...i've got a line on someone who has edibles for sale close to my area...will let you all know if i have any luck getting fruit...virginia