We all know how to eat a banana: You peel it, discard the peel (hopefully not where someone can slip on it) and then enjoy the delicious fruit within.

Now there’s a different way: Just eat the whole shebang, peel and all.

That’s if you happen to be eating a Mongee banana (pronounced “mon-gay”), from Japan. The Mongee, grown only at D&T Farm in Japan’s Okayama Prefecture using a method called “Freeze Thaw Awakening,” allowing it to be grown in cooler climates, has a peel you can eat, Tokyo-based news site SoraNews24 reports.

The Mongee (the word means “incredible” in Okayama slang) has no natural predators, so they are grown organically, without pesticides. And they are said to be stickier, more aromatic and sweeter than your regular, everyday, probably-don’t-want-to-eat-the-peel banana; they have about 24.8 grams of sugar, considerably more than the usual 18.3 grams. And although they are rare – sold only at a single Okayama department store, Tenmanya Okayama, which gets a shipment of only 10 bananas each week – they retail for 648 yen (a little less than $6) apiece, which is, yes, more than a regular banana, but not a bank breaker or anything.

A group of SoraNews24 staffers who tried the Mongee say the fruit itself has a “tropical” taste, somewhat like a pineapple, but the skin, while not offensive, is thin and rather flavorless.

In other words, they didn't hate it, but they didn’t go bananas for it either.

Photo: iStock