    
Bananas
 Bananas
© Denzil Green
Banana plants are best grown under a canopy of other trees. They do need a lot of sun for the energy to produce the fruit, but if the fruit is exposed directly to full, hot sun, it may turn black before it ripens.
Banana trees reproduce by seed or by sending out underground shoots. Instead of relying on seeds, though, farmers cut the shoots and plant them where they want the trees to grow.
There are over 500 kinds of Bananas. Only half of the world's Bananas are eaten ripened and sweet as a fruit; the other half are eaten when they are unripened and the starch has yet to convert to sugar, or are grown as varieties such as Plantain, which don't ripen and sweeten -- in effect, a starchy vegetable. Banana skins can be green, yellow or red.
The unripened versions require cooking. They are roasted, baked, boiled, fried, and are used as a starchy vegetable as we would potatoes. They are also dried and ground into flour.
Bananas are shipped hard and unripe to reduce handling and transport damage, and then ripened artificially with ethylene gas on arrival. In fact, if left to ripe on the tree, they will never develop their best flavour. The starch only converts to sugar after picking, causing the sugar content to increase from 2% to 20%. The yellower the skin, the sweeter the fruit (at least in the varieties we are sold, which develop a yellow skin).
Not all varieties of Bananas are white inside, even though that's all we see at the supermarkets. A variety called "Island Banana", for instance, is pink inside, and it has a denser texture that what we are used to.
Many people think Bananas are seedless. It is for all intents and purposes, but it's not completely true. In commercial Bananas, you will see small black specks. These are the start of seeds that would have developed, had the Bananas been left on the trees. Bananas left to their own devices develop larger and harder seeds.
Bananas suffer cell damage and the release of browning and other compounds when cold, which is why their skin turns black in the refrigerator. But this does not damage the fruit inside.
When buying Bananas, avoid any that have split skins. If you don't want to eat them the same day, it's okay to get those that still have a bit of green on the skin, as they will ripen at home over the next day or two on your kitchen table or counter. Bananas with black patches on them aren't "bad"; they're just overripe, and you would probably prefer them in a banana bread than you would to eat them out of hand.
Cooking Tips
Bananas, like apples and avocados, will start turning brown the millisecond they are peeled. Dip pieces in an acidic juice such as lemon, orange or pineapple, or mash with some juice.
To make a baby food, mash ripe Bananas with orange juice. The orange juice (better for infants than lemon juice) will stop the Bananas from turning brown. You could also mash in strawberries, peas, etc. Then freeze in small containers, and thaw completely before using.
Use overripe Bananas for mashing into baked goods; use slightly underripe Bananas for cooking where you want the shape to come through, as they will hold their shape better if slightly underripe.
Nutrition
100g (3 1/2 oz) of plain, mashed banana contain around 95 calories. Rich in carbohydrate. Good mix of sugars which the body absorbs at different rates, giving a long-lasting energy boost to the body. High content of Vitamins C, B6, B2, B1, and folate. Low in fat and sodium. High in potassium which can help keep blood pressure low. Useful for anyone on a low-fat, low-sodium, cholesterol free diet.
It's a myth, according to a United States Food and Drug Administration press release as far back as 26 May 1967, that you can get high from smoking banana peels. They trapped 3 weeks worth of smoke from banana peels in a machine, and analysed it, and found no hallucinogens.
Equivalents
1 pound Bananas = 450g = 3 medium Bananas = 2 cups sliced = 1 3/4 cup mashed
3 medium bananas = 1 cup mashed = 9 oz / 250g
1 medium banana = 1 cup peeled, sliced = 5 oz / 140g
1 pound dried sliced Bananas = 450g = 4 - 4 1/2 cups
Storage
Bananas will ripen at room temperature. Once they are ripe, to stop them from going on to spoil right away, you can put them in the refrigerator if you don't mind what will happen to the skins. The skins will turn brown. The flesh inside will stay white for up to three days; after that, it will start turning brown, too.
You can freeze Bananas for use later in cooking. First mash or purée ripe Bananas with a little lemon juice or orange juice (use about 1 tsp per banana.) The citrus juice will help prevent the banana from turning brown which does no harm, but is unsightly. Freeze in small portions so that it is easier to retrieve and defrost what you need. Can be used in cakes, breads, for baby food, etc (for baby food, you may want to use orange juice rather than lemon).
Or, you can freeze them whole. That's right, right in their skins. Bundle them into a freezer baggy or package them in plastic wrap and tin foil, and freeze. Use them later for a baked good such as banana bread.
History
The bananas we eat today are domesticated ones. In the wild, in their native India and Malaysia, they have hard seeds that range in length from 1/4 to 1/2 inch (5 mm to 1 cm.)
The earliest written reference to bananas mentions that Nearchus, a general of Alexander the Great, saw bananas and sugar cane in India in 327 BC.
Bananas were unknown to the Romans, though Pliny in his Natural History wrote of their existence, calling them "pala."
They were grown in the south of China from 200 AD as a rare, exotic fruit. Bananas arrived Africa around 500 AD carried by traders from India, and in the Middle East and North Africa by 700 AD carried by Muslim traders.
11th and 12th century Arabic manuscripts make a few mentions of how to eat bananas: 'To eat it with sugar and honey helps to make good use of it. Make sure that the banana is ripe and thoroughly peeled and drink some perfumed wine afterwards' (Taqwim al-Sihha of Ibn Butlan.)
From West Africa, the Porteguese brought bananas to the Canary Islands. They arrived in South and Central America in the 15th and 16th centuries.
In 1870, a man named Lorenzo D. Baker was bringing his ship "Telegraph" back from Jamaica to Boston empty. He agreed to take back with him a shipment of bananas. They arrived in Boston in reasonable condition and sold well.
Commercial importation into England started in 1878, coming first from Madeira and a few years later from the Canary Islands. In 1896, another businessman (named "Minor C. Keith") ran imports for 3 years from Costa Rica, but so many of the bananas arrived in unsaleable condition that he didn't pursue the venture further. Only in 1901, did regular, large scale importation start, coming from Jamaica, made possibly by steamships of the Imperial Direct Line with refrigerated ships.
By 1910, the trade in bananas was 1 million tons. By 1930, 2.3 million tons. By 1990, 9 million tons.
Until 1935, Jamaica was the world's leading producer of bananas.
The banana trade was impacted by WWII. The shipping fleet necessary for it had to be rebuilt in the 1950s.
In 1968, United Brands was formed.
In Western Europe, banana consumption was 700,000 tons in 1950, and 3,820,000 tons in 1990.
People in Europe and North America had to be taught what to do with Bananas. The growing popularity of them in North America was the foundation for what became the United Fruit Company. Bananas, along with oranges, provided North Americans with a fruit that was available at their markets during the winter months.
Literature & Lore
In Tennessee, it has been against the law since 1911 to drop banana peels on the street.
The jingle for the Chiquita Banana song was written in 1944 by a song-writing team led by a Robert Foreman. The original singer was not Carmen Miranda, as many might guess, but rather Patti Clayton. In fact, Carmen Miranda never recorded the song. In 1945, Elsa Miranda from Puerto Rico took over in 1945 from Patti Clayton, and it was she that appeared in the commercials and made guest appearances in movies. Carmen Miranda's headresses, however, were the inspiration for the cartoon banana lady that Chiquita used in its advertising.
The Chiquita Banana song was one of the most successful commercial songs of all time, and as often as the Chiquita company wrote it to keep up with the times, it was parodied just as much. At the peak of its airtime play, it was heard over 350 times a day across America.
I'm Chiquita Banana, and I've come to say
Bananas have to ripen in a certain way.
And when they are flecked with brown and have a golden hue,
Bananas taste the best, and are the best for you.
You can put them in a salad. You can put them in a pie - aye.
Anyway you want to eat them it's impossible to beat them.
But bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator.
So you should never put bananas in the refrigerator.
Language Notes
Our word "banana" comes from a West African word, "banema."
Also called:  Plantain Fruit Musa (Scientific Name) Banane (French) Banane (German) Banana (Italian) Plátano (Spanish)
See Also
Plantain
Other entries for Bananas
Banana Buds, Banana Shoots, Plantain
Other entries for Fruit
Bletting, Candied Fruit, Citrus Fruit, Dried Fruit, Drupes, Hard Fruit, Olives, Rhubarb, Soft Fruit
Related Recipes
Baked Bananas, Banana Mincemeat Pie, Banana Orange Blender Breakfast, Banana Pancakes, Barbados Banana Bread, Barbequed Bananas, Grilled Banana-Mayonnaise Sandwich
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| | | It's a myth that you can get high from smoking banana peels. The American FDA actually did a study of this back in 1967. |
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