Banana

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Banana
Peeled, whole, and cross section
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Musaceae
Genus:	Musa

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea.^[1] Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.^[2]

Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. As the banana plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, they are often mistaken for trees, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem. For some species, this pseudostem can reach a height of up to 2–8 m, with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem can produce a bunch of green bananas, which when ripened often turn yellow or sometimes red. After bearing fruit, the pseudostem dies and is replaced by another.

The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand), and 3–20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content. Each individual fruit (known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Western cultures generally eat the inside raw and throw away the skin while some Asian cultures generally eat both the skin and inside cooked. The fruit typically has numerous strings (called phloem bundles), which run between the skin and inner part. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety splits easily lengthwise into three strips. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B₆, vitamin C, and potassium.

Bananas are grown in at least 107 countries.^[3] In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Bananas may also be cut and dried and eaten as a type of chip. Dried bananas are also ground into banana flour.

Although the wild species have fruits with numerous large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have seedless fruits. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas. Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10–15% of all production is for export, with the United States and European Union being the dominant buyers.

Contents 1 Botany 2 Properties 3 Culinary usage 3.1 The flower 3.2 The trunk 3.3 The fruit 3.4 The leaves 4 Trade 5 History 5.1 Early cultivation 5.2 Plantation cultivation 6 Cultivation 7 Pests, diseases, and natural disasters 7.1 Major diseases 7.1.1 In Australia 7.1.2 In East Africa 8 Health benefits 9 Fibre 9.1 Textiles 9.2 Paper 10 Storage and transport 11 Usage in culture 11.1 Peels 11.2 Arts 11.3 Symbols 12 Gallery 13 See also 13.1 Culinary usage 14 Footnotes 15 References 16 Further reading 17 External links

Botany

This section requires expansion.

Botanically, the bananas are placed in the genus Musa in the family Musaceae. The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998), assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales in the clade commelinids in the monocotyledonous flowering plants.

The banana plant is a pseudostem that grows to 6 to 7.6 metres (20–25 feet) tall, growing from a corm. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (9 ft) long and 60 cm (2 ft) wide.^[4] The banana plant is the largest of all herbaceous flowering plants.^[5] The large leaves grow whole, but are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.^[6]

A single, sterile, male banana flower, also known as the banana heart is normally produced by each stem (though on rare occasions more can be produced—a single plant in the Philippines has five^[7]). Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in Southeast Asia, steamed, in salads, or eaten raw.^[8] The female flowers are produced further up the stem and produce the actual fruit without requiring fertilization. The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry".^[9] In cultivated varieties, the seeds have degenerated nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. The ovary is inferior to the flower; because of their stiff stems and the positioning of the ovary and flower, bananas grow sticking up, not hanging down.

Some sources assert that the genus of the banana, Musa, is named for Antonio Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus.^[10] Others say that Linnaeus, who gave the genus its name in 1750, simply adapted an Arabic word for banana, mauz.^[11] The word banana itself comes from the Arabic word banan, which means "finger".^[11] The genus contains numerous species; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.^[12]

Properties

Banana, raw, edible parts

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 90 kcal   370 kJ
Carbohydrates     22.84 g - Sugars  12.23 g - Dietary fiber  2.6 g   Fat 0.33 g Protein 1.09 g Vitamin A equiv.  3 µg  0% Thiamine (Vit. B1)  0.031 mg   2% Riboflavin (Vit. B2)  0.073 mg   5% Niacin (Vit. B3)  0.665 mg   4% Pantothenic acid (B5)  0.334 mg  7% Vitamin B6  0.367 mg 28% Folate (Vit. B9)  20 µg  5% Vitamin C  8.7 mg 15% Calcium  5 mg 1% Iron  0.26 mg 2% Magnesium  27 mg 7%  Phosphorus  22 mg 3% Potassium  358 mg   8% Zinc  0.15 mg 1%
One banana is 100–150 g. Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database

Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. Bananas can be eaten raw though some varieties are generally cooked first. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Unripe or green bananas and plantains are used as an ingredient in various dishes, such as in curries and stews, and are the staple starch of many tropical populations. Banana sap is extremely sticky and can be used as a practical adhesive. Sap can be obtained from the pseudostem, from the fruit peelings, or from the fruit flesh.

Most production for local sale is of green cooking bananas and plantains, as ripe dessert bananas are easily damaged while being transported to market. Even when transported only within their country of origin, ripe bananas suffer a high rate of damage and loss.^{[citation needed]}

The commercial dessert cultivars most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa × paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics. They are popular in part because, being a non-seasonal crop, 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 from the tropics. The Cavendish gained popularity in the 1950s after the previously mass produced cultivar, Gros Michel, became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, a fungus which attacks the roots of the banana plant.

The most important properties making 'Cavendish' the main export banana are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars rarely have a superior flavor^{[citation needed]} compared to the less widespread cultivars. Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in ripening rooms when they arrive in their country of destination. These are special rooms made air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed", however, and may show up at the supermarket still fully green. While these bananas will ripen more slowly, the flavor will be notably richer^{[citation needed]}, and the banana peel can be allowed to reach a yellow/brown speckled phase, and yet retain a firm flesh inside. Thus, shelf life is somewhat extended.

The vivid yellow color normally associated with supermarket bananas is in fact a side-effect of the artificial ripening process. Cavendish bananas that have been allowed to ripen naturally on the plant have a greenish-yellow appearance which changes to a brownish-yellow as they ripen further. Although both the flavor and texture of "tree ripened" bananas is generally regarded as superior to any type green-picked fruit, once natural ripening has commenced the shelf life is typically only 7–10 days, making commercial distribution impractical. For most people the only practical means of obtaining such fruit is growing it themselves, however this is also somewhat problematic, as the bananas all tend to ripen at once and have very poor keeping properties.

The flavor and texture of bananas are also affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 °C (57 and 59 °F) during transportation. At lower temperatures, the ripening of bananas permanently stalls, and the bananas will eventually turn gray as cell walls break down. The skins of ripe bananas will quickly turn black in the 4°C environment of a domestic refrigerator, although the fruit inside remains unaffected.

The banana flavor is due, amongst others, to isoamyl acetate which is one of the main constituents of banana oil.

It should be noted that Musa × paradisiaca is also the generic name for the common plantain, a coarser and starchier variant not to be confused with Musa acuminata or the Cavendish variety.

The leaves of the banana plant are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are used many ways, including as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking or storage.^[13] Banana leaves are also used to serve food in India and other Asian countries.

Banana chips are a snack produced from dehydrated or fried banana or plantain slices, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Unlike other fruits, it is difficult to extract juice from bananas because when compressed a banana simply turns to pulp.

Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana), the forerunner of the common domesticated banana,^[14] are sold in markets in Indonesia.

In India, juice is extracted from the corm and used as a home remedy for the treatment of jaundice, sometimes with the addition of honey, and for kidney stones.^[15]

A 2008 study reported that ripe bananas exhibit a blue fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light. This property is attributed to the degradation of chlorophyll giving rise to the accumulation of a fluorescent product in the skin of the fruit. The chlorophyll breakdown product is stabilized by a propionate ester group. Banana-tree leaves also fluoresce in the same way. Green bananas do not show any sign of fluorescence. The study suggested that this allows animals which are capable of seeing in the ultraviolet spectrum to detect ripened bananas.^[16]

Culinary usage

The flower

In addition to the fruit, the flower of the banana plant (also known as banana blossom or banana heart) is used in Southeast Asian, Telugu,Tamil, Bengali, and Kerala (India) cuisine, either served raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups and curries. Banana flowers are somewhat similar in taste to artichokes and can be eaten in much the same way where one scrapes off the fleshy part of the petals and eats the whole of the heart.

The trunk

The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used in Telugu, Bengali and Kerala cooking, and notably in the Burmese dish mohinga. The juice extract prepared from the tender core is used to treat kidney stones and high blood pressure.

The fruit

Bananas fried with batter is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Banana fritters can be served with ice cream as well. Bananas are also eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. In Burma, bunches of green bananas surrounding a green coconut in a tray form an important part of traditional offerings to the Buddha and the Nats. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. Plantain bananas are used in various stews and curries or cooked, baked or mashed in much the same way as potatoes. Banana pancakes are popular amongst backpackers and other travellers in South and Southeast Asia. This has elicited the expression Banana Pancake Trail for those places in Asia catering to this group of travellers.

The leaves

Banana leaves are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as "plates". Steamed with dishes it imparts a subtle sweet flavour. It is often also seen used as a wrapping for grilling food and as such it contains the juices and prevents the food from getting burned whilst at the same time giving off a subtle flavour.

Trade

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Top banana producing nations - 2007 (in million metric tons)
India	21.77
China	8.04
Philippines	7.48
Brazil	7.10
Ecuador	6.00
Indonesia	5.46
Tanzania	3.50
Costa Rica	2.08
Thailand	2.00
Mexico	1.96
Burundi	1.60
Guatemala	1.57
Vietnam	1.36
Kenya	1.19
Bangladesh	1.00
Honduras	0.91
Egypt	0.88
Papua New Guinea	0.87
Cameroon	0.86
Uganda	0.62
World total	72.5
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations[3]

Bananas and plantains constitute a major staple food crop for millions of people in developing countries. In most tropical countries, green (unripe) bananas used for cooking represent the main cultivars. Cooking bananas are very similar to potatoes in how they are used. Both can be fried, boiled, baked, or chipped and have similar taste and texture when served. One green cooking banana has about the same calorie content as one potato.^[17]

In 2003, India led the world in banana production, representing approximately 23% of the worldwide crop, most of which was for domestic consumption. The four leading banana exporting countries were Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippines, and Colombia, which together accounted for about two-thirds of the world's exports, each exporting more than 1 million tons. Ecuador alone provided more than 30% of global banana exports, according to FAO statistics.

The vast majority of producers are small-scale farmers growing the crop either for home consumption or for local markets. Because bananas and plantains will produce fruit year-round, they provide an extremely valuable source of food during the hunger season (that period of time when all the food from the previous harvest has been consumed, and the next harvest is still some time away). It is for these reasons that bananas and plantains are of major importance to food security.

Bananas are among the most widely consumed foods in the world. Most banana farmers receive a low unit price for their produce as supermarkets buy enormous quantities and receive a discount for that business. Competition amongst supermarkets has led to reduced margins in recent years which in turn has led to lower prices for growers. Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, and Fyffes grow their own bananas in Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras. Banana plantations are capital intensive and demand high expertise, so the majority of independent growers are large and wealthy landowners of these countries. This has led to bananas being available as a "fair trade" or Rainforest Alliance certified item in some countries.

The banana has an extensive trade history beginning with the founding of the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) at the end of the nineteenth century. For much of the 20th century, bananas and coffee dominated the export economies of Central America. In the 1930s, bananas and coffee made up as much as 75% of the region's exports. As late as 1960, the two crops accounted for 67% of the exports from the region. Though the two were grown in similar regions, they tended not to be distributed together. The United Fruit Company based its business almost entirely on the banana trade, as the coffee trade proved too difficult for it to control. The term "banana republic" has been broadly applied to most countries in Central America, but from a strict economic perspective only Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama were actual "banana republics", countries with economies dominated by the banana trade.

The countries of the European Union have traditionally imported many of their bananas from the former European island colonies of the Caribbean, paying guaranteed prices above global market rates. As of 2005, these arrangements were in the process of being withdrawn under pressure from other major trading powers, principally the United States. The withdrawal of these indirect subsidies to Caribbean producers is expected to favour the banana producers of Central America, in which American companies have an economic interest.

The United States has minimal banana production. 14,000 tons of bananas were grown in Hawaii in 2001.^[18] Bananas have also been grown in Florida and southern California.^[19]

History

Early cultivation

The domestication of bananas took place in southeastern Asia. Many species of wild bananas still exist in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BCE, and possibly to 8000 BCE.^[1] This would make the New Guinean highlands the place where bananas were first domesticated. It is likely that other species of wild bananas were later also domesticated elsewhere in southeastern Asia. Southeast Asia is the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation in the region.

Some recent discoveries of banana phytoliths in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE^[21] have triggered an as yet unresolved debate about the antiquity of banana cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were already known in Madagascar around that time.^[22] The earliest evidence of banana cultivation in Africa before these recent discoveries dates to no earlier than late 6th century AD.^[23] In this view, bananas were introduced to the east coast of Africa by Muslim Arabs.^[20]

The banana may have been present in isolated locations of the Middle East on the eve of the rise of Islam. There is some textual evidence that the prophet Muhammad was familiar with it. The spread of Islam was followed by the far reaching diffusion of bananas. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths) beginning in the ninth century. By the tenth century the banana appears in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there it diffused into north Africa and Muslim Iberia. In fact, during the medieval ages, bananas from Granada were considered amongst the best in the Arab world.^[20] In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine.

Bananas were introduced to the Americas by Portuguese sailors who brought the fruits from West Africa in the 1500s.^[24] The word banana is of West African origin, from the Wolof language, and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese.^[25]

Plantation cultivation

In the 15th and 16th century, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa.^[26] As late as the Victorian Era, bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available via merchant trade.^[26] Jules Verne references bananas with detailed descriptions so as not to confuse readers in his book Around the World in Eighty Days (1872).

In the early 20th century, bananas began forming the basis of large commercial empires, exemplarized by the United Fruit Company, which created immense banana plantations especially in Central and South America. These were usually extremely commercially exploitative, and the term "Banana republic" was coined for states like Honduras and Guatemala, representing the fact that "servile dictatorships" were created and abetted by these companies and their political backers, for example in the USA.^[27]

Cultivation

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While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, triploid (and thus seedless) cultivars have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. The plant is allowed to produce 2 shoots at a time; a larger one for fruiting immediately and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" that will produce fruit in 6–8 months time. The life of a banana plantation is 25 years or longer, during which time the individual stools or planting sites may move slightly from their original positions as lateral rhizome formation dictates.

Cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic, which makes them sterile and unable to produce viable seeds. Lacking seeds, another form of propagation is required. This normally involves removing and transplanting part of the underground stem (called a corm). Usually this is done by carefully removing a sucker (a vertical shoot that develops from the base of the banana pseudostem) with some roots intact. However, small sympodial corms, representing not yet elongated suckers, are easier to transplant and can be left out of the ground for up to 2 weeks; they require minimal care and can be boxed together for shipment.

Contrary to what is widely believed, it is not actually necessary to include any of the corm or root structure to propagate bananas; severed suckers with no root material attached can be successfully propagated in damp sand, although this takes somewhat longer.

In some countries, bananas are also commercially propagated by means of tissue culture. This method is preferred since it ensures disease-free planting material. When using vegetative parts such as suckers for propagation, there is a risk of transmitting diseases (especially the devastating Panama disease).

Pests, diseases, and natural disasters

While in no danger of outright extinction, the most common edible banana cultivar 'Cavendish' (extremely popular in Europe and the Americas) could become unviable for large-scale cultivation in the next 10–20 years. Its predecessor 'Gros Michel', discovered in the 1820s, has already suffered this fate. Like almost all bananas, it lacks genetic diversity, which makes it vulnerable to diseases, which threaten both commercial cultivation and the small-scale subsistence farming.^[28][29] Some commentators have further remarked that those variants which could replace what much of the world considers a "typical banana" are so different that most people would not consider them the same fruit, and blame the decline of the banana on monogenetic cultivation driven by short-term commercial exploitation motives.^[27]

Major diseases

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Major afflictions of bananas include:

• Panama Disease (Race 1): fusarium wilt (a soil fungus). The fungus enters the plants through the roots and moves up with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums. These plug and cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt. Prior to 1960 almost all commercial banana production centered on the cultivar 'Gros Michel', which was highly susceptible to fusarium wilt and collapse, exposing the rest of the plant to lethal amounts of sunlight.^[30] The cultivar 'Cavendish' was chosen as a replacement for 'Gros Michel' because out of the resistant cultivars it was viewed as producing the highest quality fruit. However, more care is required for shipping the 'Cavendish' banana, and its quality compared to 'Gros Michel' is debated.

However, according to current references, a deadly form of Panama disease is infecting the world's Cavendish banana plants. All are genetically identical, which causes problems when it comes to disease resistance. However, researchers are experimenting with hundreds of feral varieties to find out which one(s) are resistant.^[30]

• Tropical Race 4: a reinvigorated strain of Panama disease first discovered in 1993. This is a virulent form of fusarium wilt that has wiped out 'Cavendish' in several southeast Asian countries. It has yet to reach the Americas; however, soil fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools. This is how Tropical Race 4 moves from one plantation to another and is its most likely route into Latin America. The Cavendish cultivar is highly susceptible to TR4, and over time, Cavendish is almost certain to be eliminated from commercial production by this disease. Unfortunately, the only known defense to TR4 is genetic resistance.
• Black Sigatoka: a fungal leaf spot disease first observed in Fiji in 1963 or 1964. Black Sigatoka (also known as Black Leaf Streak) has spread to banana plantations throughout the tropics due to infected banana leaves being used as packing material. It affects all of the main cultivars of bananas and plantains, impeding photosynthesis by turning parts of their leaves black, and eventually killing the entire leaf. Being starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow suffer premature ripening, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever increasing resistance to fungicidal treatment, with the current expense for treating 1 hectare exceeding $1000 per year. In addition to the financial expense there is the question of how long such intensive spraying can be justified environmentally. Several resistant cultivars of banana have been developed, but none has yet received wide scale commercial acceptance due to taste and texture issues.
• Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV): this virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids. It causes stunting of the leaves resulting in a "bunched" appearance. Generally, a banana plant infected with the virus will not set fruit, although mild strains exist in many areas which do allow for some fruit production. These mild strains are often mistaken for malnourishment, or a disease other than BBTV. There is no cure for BBTV, however its effect can be minimised by planting only tissue cultured plants (In-vitro propagation), controlling the aphids, and immediately removing and destroying any plant from the field that shows signs of the disease.

Even though it is no longer viable for large scale cultivation, 'Gros Michel' is not extinct and is still grown in areas where Panama disease is not found. Likewise, "Cavendish" is in no danger of extinction, but it may leave the shelves of the supermarkets for good if diseases make it impossible to supply the global market. It is unclear if any existing cultivar can replace 'Cavendish' on a scale needed to fill current demand, so various hybridisation and genetic engineering programs are working on creating a disease-resistant, mass-market banana.

In Australia

Australia is relatively free of plant diseases and therefore prohibits imports. When Cyclone Larry wiped out Australia's domestic banana crop in 2006, bananas became relatively expensive, due to both low supply domestically and the existence of laws prohibiting banana imports. Prices have since fallen as production has reverted back to a steady rate.

In East Africa

Most bananas grown worldwide are used for local consumption. In the tropics, bananas, especially cooking bananas, represent a major source of food, as well as a major source of income for smallholder farmers. It is in the East African highlands that bananas reach their greatest importance as a staple food crop. In countries such as Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda per capita consumption has been estimated at 450 kg per year, the highest in the world. Ugandans use the same word "matooke" to describe both banana and food.

In the past, the banana was a highly sustainable crop with a long plantation life and stable yields year round. However with the arrival of the Black sigatoka fungus, banana production in eastern Africa has fallen by over 40%. For example, during the 1970s, Uganda produced 15 to 20 tonnes of bananas per hectare. Today, production has fallen to only 6 tonnes per hectare.

The situation has started to improve as new disease resistant cultivars have been developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and NARO such as the FHIA-17 (known in Uganda as the Kabana 3). These new cultivars taste different from the traditionally grown banana which has slowed their acceptance by local farmers. However, by adding mulch and animal manure to the soil around the base of the banana plant, these new cultivars have substantially increased yields in the areas where they have been tried.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and NARO, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and CGIAR have started trials for genetically modified banana plants that are resistant to both Black sigatoka and banana weevils. It is developing cultivars specifically for smallholder or subsistence farmers.

Health benefits

Along with other fruits and vegetables, consumption of bananas were associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer^[31] and in women, breast cancer^[32] and renal cell carcinoma^[33]

Individuals with a latex allergy may experience a reaction to bananas.^[34]

Fibre

Textiles

The banana plant has long been a source of fibre for high quality textiles. In Japan, the cultivation of banana for clothing and household use dates back to at least the 13th century. In the Japanese system, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. The harvested shoots must first be boiled in lye to prepare the fibres for the making of the yarn. These banana shoots produce fibres of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses. For example, the outermost fibres of the shoots are the coarsest, and are suitable for tablecloths, whereas the softest innermost fibres are desirable for kimono and kamishimo. This traditional Japanese banana cloth making process requires many steps, all performed by hand.^[35]

In another system employed in Nepal, the trunk of the banana plant is harvested instead, small pieces of which are subjected to a softening process, mechanical extraction of the fibres, bleaching, and drying. After that, the fibres are sent to the Kathmandu Valley for the making of high end rugs with a textural quality similar to silk. These banana fibre rugs are woven by the traditional Nepalese hand-knotted methods, and are sold RugMark certified.

Paper

Banana fibre is also used in the production of banana paper. Banana paper is used in two different senses: to refer to a paper made from the bark of the banana plant, mainly used for artistic purposes, or paper made from banana fiber, obtained from an industrialized process, from the stem and the non usable fruits. This paper can be either hand-made or made by industrialized machine.

Storage and transport

In the current world marketing system, bananas are grown in the tropics. The fruit therefore has to be transported over long distances and storage is necessary. To gain maximum life, bunches are harvested before the fruit is fully mature. The fruit is carefully handled, transported quickly to the seaboard, cooled, and shipped under sophisticated refrigeration. The basis of this procedure is to prevent the bananas producing ethylene which is the natural ripening agent of the fruit. This sophisticated technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at 13 degrees Celsius. On arrival at the destination, the bananas are held at about 17 degrees Celsius and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After a few days, the fruit has begun to ripen and it is distributed for retail sale. It is important to note that unripe bananas can not be held in the home refrigerator as they suffer from the cold. After ripening some bananas can be held for a few days at home. They can be stored indefinitely frozen, then eaten like an ice pop or cooked as a banana mush.

Recent studies have suggested^[36][37][38] that the presence of carbon dioxide (which is produced by the fruit) extends the life and the addition of an ethylene absorbent further extends the life even at high temperatures. This effect can be exploited by packing the fruit in a polyethylene bag and including an ethylene absorbent, potassium permanganate, on an inert carrier. The bag is then sealed with a band or string. This treatment has been shown to more than double the life of the bananas at a range of temperatures and can give a life of up to 3–4 weeks without the need for refrigeration.

Usage in culture

Peels

The depiction of a person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. An 1898 comedy recording features a popular character of the time, "Cal Stewart", claiming to describe his own such incident, saying:^[39]

Now I don't think much of the man that throws a banana peelin' on the sidewalk, and I don't think much of the banana peel that throws a man on the sidewalk neither ... my foot hit the bananer peelin' and I went up in the air, and I come down ker-plunk, jist as I was pickin' myself up a little boy come runnin' across the street ... he says, "Oh mister, won't you please do that agin? My little brother didn't see you do it."

Arts

• The poet Basho is named after the Japanese word for a banana plant. The "basho" planted in his garden by a grateful student became a source of inspiration to his poetry, as well as a symbol of his life and home.^[40]
• The song Yes! We Have No Bananas was written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn and originally released in 1923; for many decades, it was the best-selling sheet music in history. Since then the song has been rerecorded several times and has been particularly popular during banana shortages.
• The Japanese novelist Banana Yoshimoto (real name: Mihoko Yoshimoto) changed her name because she liked banana flowers.

Symbols

Bananas are also humorously used as a phallic symbol due to similarities in size and shape. This is typified by the artwork of the debut album of The Velvet Underground, which features a banana on the front cover, yet on the original LP version, the design allowed the listener to 'peel' this banana to find a pink, phallic structure on the inside.

Gallery

Traditional offerings of bananas and coconut at a Nat shrine in Myanmar.	Certain banana cultivars turn red or purplish instead of yellow as they ripen.	Bananas are often sold in bunches, as shown above.	Banana pudding.
Banana plant, Luxor, Egypt - Bananas are continually cropped, fruits from higher in the inflorescence being taken before the lower part opens.	Banana tree.	Banana leaves can be used for packaging food, such as with the Malaysian dish 'nasi lemak'.

See also

• Banana boat
• Banana messenger
• Banana oil
• Banana Pancake Trail
• Banana production in Iceland
• Banana republic
• Bananadine
• Enset (false banana)
• Plantain
• Song: Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)
• Song: Yes! We Have No Bananas

Culinary usage

• Banana beer
• Banana bread
• Banana chips
• Bananas Foster
• Banana ketchup
• Banana pudding
• Banana sauce
• Banana split
• Banania
• Bánh chu?i
• Cream pie
• Frozen bananas
• Pisang goreng
• Tonto (beverage)

Footnotes

References

Look up banana in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Banana

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Banana.

• Banana overview - Banana details by IITA
• FAO. Bananas Commodity notes: Final results of the 2003 season, 2004^{[dead link]}
• Denham, T., Haberle, S. G., Lentfer, C., Fullagar, R., Field, J., Porch, N., Therin, M., Winsborough B., and Golson, J. Multi-disciplinary Evidence for the Origins of Agriculture from 6950-6440 Cal BP at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea. Science, June 2003 issue.
• Skidmore, T., Smith, P. - Modern Latin America (5th edition), (2001) New York: Oxford University Press)
• Editors (2006). "Banana fiber rugs". Dwell 6 (7): 44.  Brief mention of banana fibre rugs
• Leibling, Robert W. and Pepperdine, Donna (2006). "Natural remedies of Arabia". Saudi Aramco World 57 (5): 14.  Banana etymology, banana flour.
• Watson, Andrew. Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Further reading

• Dan Koeppel, Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, ISBN 9781594630385, [1]
• Dan Koeppel, The New York Times article of June 18, 2008, Yes, We Will Have No Bananas
• Harriet Lamb, "Fighting The Banana Wars and other Fairtrade Battles", ISBN 978-1-84-604083-2

External links

• Banana at the Open Directory Project