Bananas
Banana plants are the largest of all herbs, growing to over 40 feet tall with leaves up to 30 feet long. While (Musaceae) is a small family, some of its members are of tremendous economic importance, particularly in the tropics.
The photo shows the bottom end of a maturing bunch of bananas growing
in Spain's Canary Islands. All the female flowers have developed into
bananas, but the male inflorescence is still opening layer by layer to
expose rows of male flowers. Commercial bananas are sterile so don't need
the male inflorescence, which is often removed and sold as a separate
product. Photo ©
i0053.
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©2006 Clove Garden |
General & HistoryBanana were one of the earliest agricultural crops, starting about 10,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. Taken from there to Africa and from Africa to Central and South America, it is now an important crop throughout the tropical areas of the world. The name "banana" is African. Bananas are the world's most popular fruit. Even in the U.S. where bananas are not grown the average person, in a year, eats 10 pounds more bananas than apples. Bananas are currently the 4th most important source of nutrition for the world's population, following only rice, wheat and corn. Scientific naming of bananas is highly confusing because the scientists have been highly confused. Buying and Storing BananasBananas are generally sold slightly unripe, which is fine because they are more durable that way and ripen well at room temperature. Avoid bruised fruit and bananas that are all green - they may not ripen well. Green plantains for cooking are the exception. Do not refrigerate or expose to extreme temperatures or they will not ripen properly. When ripe, they can be refrigerated for a couple days to prevent them from becoming mushy. The skins turn brown when refrigerated but this does not affect the flesh.
Store bananas away from other fruits unless you want those fruit to ripen more quickly. Bananas exude a lot of ethylene gas which causes fruit to ripen. Wild Bananas -
[Musa paradisiaca]
Commercial Bananas -
[Musa paradisiaca sapientum]
Baby Banana - See Nino Banana Blue Java - [Blue Java Ice Cream]
Burro
Cavendish
The Cavendish is propagated by root suckers. It's a sterile seedless banana producing neither pollen nor seed, Every plant is an offshoot of one single original plant. This lack of diversity places the crop at great risk of disease and there's no way to breed disease resistance. Currently the black sigatoka fungus is a major problem and airborne
spraying is the only defense, accounting for a full 20% of the cost of
growing bananas. A soil bacteria called Tropical Race 4 also now threatens the Cavendish
just as a previous variety wiped out its commercial predecessor,
Gros Michel. Prepare at least for higher prices and
the possible disappearance of the familiar seedless dessert banana.
Gros Michel - [Big Mike]
Manzano - [Apple Banana]
Nino - [PLU 4234]
Popoulou
Red Banana
Yangambi Km5
Plantain -
[Cooking Banana; Dodo (West Africa); Musa paradisiaca]
This is the main banana in most of the world. It is starchier than the "desert" bananas like Cavendish and less sweet. Plantains are generally cooked while still green or somewhat green. They are still quite firm when solid yellow and can still be fried in that state. Some recipes call for them ripe, when they will be solid black and finally have softened. The flesh tends to be a little orange in color. The average plantain is about 12 inches long and weighs about 9-3/4 ounces. Details and Cooking. Plantain Shoots are eaten particularly in southern India (Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala). When the bunch of bananas is harvested, the plant is cut down and layers peeled off to get to the tender central stalk. This is chopped and prepared in salads and curries. The outer layers are used for binding string and for weaving mats. Young immature shoots are sometimes cooked and eaten in Ethiopia.
Plantain Roots: Root corms are sometimes eaten in Ethiopia but not so commonly as those of the related Enset. They are soft and starchy just before the flowering stage. Leaves & Blossoms are used the same as banana leaves and
blossoms.
Banana Blossom - [banana
heart; banana bell (Australia); Dok kluai (Thai); Shang chao fua (China)]
This pointy heart shape item is the male inflorescence of the banana or plantain plant. It forms a point at the end of the flowering stem and consists of red leaf like bracts covering rows of male flowers. The bracts curl up one by one, each exposing a row of flowers (not "baby bananas" as so many descriptions say). Above the "blossom" are a large number of female flowers that will mature into bananas Commercial bananas are sterile, so the male inflorescence is not needed for pollination The photo specimens were 1 pound 2 ounces, 3-3/8 inches diameter and 8-3/4
inches long, about medium size. They were imported from Mexico.
Details and Cooking.
Banana Leaf / Plantain Leaf
The photo shows about 1/4 of a banana leaf (split down the spine and then
cut in half crosswise) which is the way they are normally sold around here,
fresh or frozen. This 1/4 leaf was 3 feet long and nearly a foot across at
the widest point.
Details and Cooking.
Other MusaceaeDwarf Banana [Musa acuminata]
Enset - [Ensete; False Banana,
Ensete ventricosum]
Enset is planted widely in Ethiopia and noteworthy as a durable, long lived
crop providing a hedge against famine. The tiny banana-like fruits are not
edible, but the starchy root corm is. A tree takes four to five years to
mature, at which time the root can weigh around 80 pounds. There are related
ensets in India, Yunan, China and Thailand but they are not so important for
food as in Ethiopia. See Note-B1.
Photo by H.Zell distributed under license Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike v3.0 Unported.
Manilla Hemp [Abacá;
Musa textilis]
This plant is grown for its tough fibers. It is related to the banana and
completely unrelated to the hemp Cannabis sativa from which marijuana
is derived. Manilla Hemp has been primarily used to manufacture rope and
paper (from which we get the term "manilla envelope"). Photo
distributed under license Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike v3.0 Unported.
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