- For other meanings, see banana
(disambiguation)
A banana is a tree-like plant (though
strictly a herb) of the genus Musa in the family Musaceae, closely related to plantains. The term banana is also applied to the elongated fruit (technically a false berry), which grows (in edible species
and varieties) in hanging clusters, several to many fruits to a tier (called a hand), many tiers to a bunch. The total of
hanging clusters is called a 'stem' in the commercial world. The banana was originally cultivated by pre-historic peoples in
Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.
History
The banana is mentioned for the first time in history in Buddhist texts 600 years BC. Alexander the Great discovers the taste
of the banana in the Indian valleys in 327 BC . The existence of an organized banana plantation could be found in China back in
the year 200 AD. In 650 AD, Islamic conquerors brought the banana back to Palestine. The Arabic merchants finally spread the
bananas all over Africa.
Only in 1502 did the Portuguese start the first banana plantation in the Caribbean and in central America.
Properties
Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors. The ripe fruit is easily peeled and
eaten raw or cooked. Depending upon variety and ripeness, the flesh can be starchy to sweet, and firm to mushy. Unripe or 'green'
plantains and bananas are used in cooking and are the staple starch of some tropical populations.
While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, seedless and triploid
varieties have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. These offshoots are called followers or suckers in the trade,
and one or two of them are the source for the next stem of fruit the plant produces, because the plant is normally cut down at
the time of harvest. A stem of bananas can weigh from 30-50 kg, and they are usually carried on the shoulder.
The commercial sweet varieties most commonly eaten in temperate countries
(species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa x paradisiaca, a cultigen)
are imported in large quantities from the tropics, where they are popular in part
because they are available fresh year-round. In global commerce, by far the most important of these banana cultivars is 'Cavendish', which accounts for the vast bulk of bananas exported outside of
the tropics.
Banana chips are a snack produced from bananas. Bananas have also been
used in the making of jam. However unlike other fruits, bananas have only recently been used
to prepare juice and squashes. Despite an 85
percent water content, it has historically been difficult to extract juice from the fruit because when compressed, a banana
simply turns to pulp. In 2004, scientists at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India, patented a technique for extracting
juice by treating banana pulp in a reaction vessel for four to six hours [1] (http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9295459%5E1702,00.html).
In addition to the fruits, the flower of the banana plant (also known as banana
blossom or banana heart) is used in South-East Asian and
Kerala (India) cooking, either served raw with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The tender core of the banana plant's trunk
is also used, notably in Burmese and Kerala (India) cooking.
Banana pests and diseases
Bananas are subject to several pests and diseases, which can reduce crop yields. The limited genetic diversity of cultivated
bananas (which is due to their asexual reproduction) make
them vulnerable to diseases such as Black Sigatoka, and new strains of
Panama disease, caused by the fungus Fusarium.
In 2003 Belgian plant pathologist Emile Frison of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and
Plantain stated that the dominant commercial banana cultivar 'Cavendish' may
become extinct within 10 years. The magazine New Scientist added, "We may see the
extinction of the banana, currently a lifesaver for hungry and impoverished Africans and the most popular product on the world's
supermarket shelves". The predecessor to 'Cavendish', the cultivar 'Gros
Michel', had already suffered a similar fate.
However, according to the Food and
Agriculture Organization, 'Cavendish' bananas make up about 10% of the total world banana crop, with small-scale farmers
continuing to grow numerous other varieties which retain far greater genetic diversity, but which do not enter significantly into
world trade, being consumed locally.
Nutritional value and dietary effects
Bananas contain about 74% water, 23% carbohydrates, 1% proteins, 0.5% fat, and 2.6% fiber (these values vary between different banana cultivars, degree of ripeness
and growing conditions). In an unripe banana the carbohydrates are mostly starches. In the process of ripenening the starches are
converted to sugars; a fully ripe banana has only 1-2% starch.
Besides being a good source of energy, banana is a rich source of potassium,
and hence is highly recommended for patients suffering from high blood
pressure.
It is claimed that bananas have beneficial effect in the treatment of intestinal disorders, including diarrhoea (diarrhea). Bananas are unusual
in that they work for constipation too. They contain mucilaginous bulking substances and are easy to digest. Other fruit which
may also be good for intestinal conditions include mangoes, figs, pineapple, and papaya.
Fair trade
Bananas are among the most widely consumed fruits in the world. However, many banana farmers receive a low price for their
produce. This has led to bananas being available as a 'fair trade' item in some
countries. The banana has an extensive trade history beginning with the founding of the United Fruit Company at the end of the nineteenth century. For much of the twentieth century
bananas and coffee have dominated the export economies of Central America. Up until the 1930's bananas and coffee comprised as
much as 75 percent of the region's exports. And even as late as 1960 bananas and coffee still comprised 67 percent of the exports
from the region. Coffee and bananas did not follow the exact same trjectory though. The United Fruit Company based its business
almost entirely on the banana trade, while the coffee trade proved too difficult for them to control. The term "banana republic"
has been broadly applied to the countries in the region, but in strict economic terms only Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama were
"banana republics"-- countries with economies that were dominated by banana trade.
(Source of statistics: Skidmore, T., Smith, P., (2001) Modern Latin America (5th edition). New York: Oxford Unversity
Press)
Attitudes toward bananas
Bananas are one of the most popular fruits among all peoples of all origins. Despite this, they are seen by some white supremacists as "monkey
food", and have been used for racist insults, such as throwing bananas at football players of African descent (e.g.
[2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/world_football/2399629.stm)). Bananas are also
humorously used as a metaphor for the human penis due to similarities in size and
shape.
The depiction of a person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. A 1906 comedy record produced by Edison Records features a popular character of the time, "Cal Stewart" claiming to describe his own
such incident, saying:
- I don't think much of a man what throws a bananer peelin' on the sidewalk, and I don't think much of a bananer what throws a
man on the sidewalk, neether. ... my foot hit that bananer peelin' and I went up in the air, and cum down ker-plunk, and fer
about a minnit I seen all the stars what stronomy tells about, and some that haint been discovered yit. Wall jist as I wuz
pickin' myself up a little boy cum runnin' cross the street and he sed 'Oh mister, won't you please do that agin, my mother
didn't see you do it.'
Urban legends
In the 1940s and 1950s, an urban legend involved tarantulas
hidden among bunches of bananas. It should be noted that, while tarantulas do not hide in bananas, certain other large exotic
spiders have been known to (see Brazilian wandering spider). These spiders are quite venomous and highly aggressive.
It is also an urban legend that the dried skin of banana fruit is hallucinogenic when smoked. Unlike many urban legends, the origin of this one has been traced. It dates back
to an article in the student newspaper Berkeley Barb in March 1967, which got the
story from the singer Country Joe McDonald. This was
brought to attention once more in the late 1980s, when the satiric punk group Dead Milkmen published an album concerning the effects of smoking banana peels. Even the FDA investigated.
As with the spider legend, this legend is also not entirely without merit. The darkening of ripening bananas, proceeding from yellow, to brown, to black, is mainly due to large amounts of serotonin (an important human neurotransmitter), which is produced from tryptophan in banana peels. While this property would seem to implicate bananas as a natural antidepressant, such is not the case.
Upon ingestion, serotonin is immediately broken down by enzymes in the stomach (particularly monoamine
oxidase). Due to its high melting point (213° C), serotonin is
unsuitable for smoking and decomposes into toxic gases (carbon and nitrogen
oxides) during combustion. Additionally, it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.
Home remedy
The inner surface of a banana peel may be rubbed on a poison ivy rash to
abate symptoms.
External links
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