Introduction to Banana
Banana, a fruit that is economically important; also the plant that bears it. About 35 species and more than 100 varieties, most of which are edible, grow in tropical regions worldwide. Bananas are used as a staple food. Several varieties are cultivated on plantations and exported to markets in temperate regions. Most bananas come from Central and South America; other important producing areas are in Africa and southern Asia.
There are many varieties of the common, or dessert, banana, which is usually eaten raw. Plantains, or cooking bananas, somewhat resemble common bananas, but they are not as sweet and must be cooked to be palatable. In Africa and Asia, the Abyssinian banana is grown for its pulpy starch, which is used to make bread; its young shoots are eaten cooked. In Southeast Asia, fiber from an inedible species is used to make rope and sacking. A number of species of banana, including the flowering banana and the Japanese banana, are cultivated for their ornamental value.
In the United States, the variety of common banana most frequently found in stores is the Cavendish. Other types available are the red banana, or red Jamaican, whose skin is purplish-red; the burro, which is squarish and chunky; and the manzano, or apple banana, which is finger-sized.
The common banana, by weight, is up to 20 per cent carbohydrates and most of the rest is water. Bananas are a good source of potassium and of dietary fiber. They also contain vitamins B6 and C, small amounts of protein, and a trace of fat. A single banana provides about 100 calories.
The Common Banana
Although it looks like a tree, the banana is actually an herblike plant. Its "trunk," or pseudostem, is made up of tightly wrapped layers of leaves that grow from an underground stem, or rhizome. New plants are grown from bits of the rhizome, each bit having at least one good bud, or eye. The plant grows rapidly and reaches its greatest height, 15 to 30 feet (4.5 to 9 m), in about a year. A dozen or more leaves, 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 m) long and shaped like feathers, extend from the top of the trunk.
Ten months after planting, the large flower bud pushes through the center of the leaf cluster. Each plant bears only one stem of fruit, but by the time the fruit has been harvested, the shoot from a new eye is about six feet (1.8 m) high. A bit will produce fruit every few months for a period of about 10 years.
After the flower bud appears, its stalk lengthens and turns downward. Layers of large, red or purple petallike bracts cover the bud, which is at the tip of the stalk. As the stalk grows, the bracts roll back and fall off, exposing typically 9 to 12 groups of flowers, arranged in a spiral around the stalk. Each group forms a hand of bananas with 10 to 24 single fruits, or fingers. The later rows of flowers do not develop, but the bud remains at the end of the stalk until the fruit is cut. (See photo on previous page.)
The small bananas point downward at first, but develop outward from the stalk, and finally grow upward. Bunches seen hanging in stores are upside down.
From Plantation to the Home
The development of a banana plantation is a difficult task. After undergrowth is cleared and drainage ditches dug, the bits are planted. When a bunch of bananas is harvested, the trunk is cut down and allowed to decay, putting nutrients back into the soil. For good growth, bananas need fertile soil, plenty of water, and warm weather. They are easily destroyed by cold temperatures or by various diseases. Since the trunk is quite weak (it is 85 per cent water), high winds sometimes blow down all of the plants in a plantation. Efforts are being made to develop hybrid varieties that are disease- and wind-resistant.
Bananas are cut while they are still green, 13 to 15 months after the bit is planted. The least ripe bananas are selected for long-distance shipments. The cut bananas are generally carried by truck to loading platforms, then by rail to air-conditioned ships. From the receiving ports bananas are sent to wholesalers who ripen them in special rooms before delivering them to grocery stores.
As a banana ripens, it turns from green to yellow, and then develops brown specks, and eventually turns black and becomes inedible. If purchased green, the fruit should be ripened at about 70° F. (21° C.). A green-tipped banana should be cooked before it is eaten. An all-yellow one may be cooked or eaten raw. The brown-flecked fruit should be eaten raw.
History of Bananas
Bananas originated in southeastern Asia. From India and Burma their cultivation spread westward and they were known in Assyria by 1100 B.C. Arabs brought them to Egypt in 650 A.D. In the 15th century, they were brought to the Canary Islands, and in the 16th, to the West Indies. In the 19th century, modern methods of plantation management and fast shipping were developed by United States businessmen, making possible a year-round supply of the fruit.
The banana belongs to the family Musaceae, which includes two genera. Most types of the common banana are varieties or cultivars of Musa acuminata or M. x paradisiaca. Plantains are also varieties of M. x paradisiaca. The flowering banana is M. coccinea; the Japanese, M. basjoo. Manila hemp is obtained from M. textilis. The Abyssinian banana is Ensete ventricosum.