Facts about Banana
The basis of this procedure is to prevent the bananas producing ethylene, which is the natural ripening agent of the fruit.
Bananas fried with batter is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red.
Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed," however, and may show up at the supermarket still fully green.
Most banana farmers receive a low unit price for their produce as supermarkets buy enormous quantities and receive a discount for that business.
in Buddhist texts, and Alexander the Great discovered the taste of the banana in the valleys of India in 327 B.C.E.
The earliest evidence of banana cultivation in Africa before these recent discoveries dates to no earlier than late sixth century C.E.
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.
Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 °C (57 and 59 °F) during transportation.
Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana), considered to be one of the forerunners of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia.
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 percent of all production is for export, with the United States and the European Union being the dominant buyers.
Each pseudostem produce a bunch of yellow, green, or even reddish bananas before dying and being replaced by another pseudostem.
The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem," and can weigh from 30–50 kilograms.
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.
Most production for local sale is of green cooking bananas and plantains, as ripe dessert bananas are easily damaged while being transported to market.
At lower temperatures, the ripening of bananas permanently stalls, and the bananas will eventually turn grey.
Some researchers have shown that the use of refrigeration is no longer essential to extend the life of bananas after harvest (Scott et al.
The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit may called plantains, and are generally used in cooking rather than eaten raw.
The fruit of the common banana averages 125 grams, of which approximately 75 percent is water and 25 percent dry matter content.
On arrival at the destination, the bananas are held typically at about 17 degrees Celsius and treated with a low concentration of ethylene.
After ripening, some bananas can be held for a few days in the home refrigerator.
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 B.C.E., and possibly to 8000 B.C.E.
Ecuador alone provided more than 30 percent of global banana exports, according to FAO statistics.
When Cyclone Larry wiped out Australia's domestic banana crop in 2006, bananas became relatively expensive, due to low supply domestically, and laws prohibiting banana imports.
The leaves of the banana are large, flexible, and waterproof; they are used in many ways, including as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking, including carrying and packing cooked foods.
About 14,000 tons of bananas were grown in Hawaii in 2001 (Sugano et al.
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.
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.
Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in ripening rooms when they arrive in their country of destination.
Banana plantations are capital intensive and demand high expertise so the majority of independent growers are large and wealthy landowners of these countries.
Chinese zongzi (bamboo leaves are more commonly used where available) and Central American tamales are sometimes steamed in banana leaves, and the Hawaiian imu is often lined with them.
The most common bananas for eating (dessert bananas) in temperate countries belong to the species M. acuminata, or to the hybrid Musa x paradisiaca or M. sapientum (M. acumianta X M. balbisiana) (Morton 1987).
The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used, notably in the Burmese dish mohinga, Bengali and Kerala cooking.
Secondly, it may refer to paper made from banana fiber, obtained from an industrialized process, from the stem and the non-utilizable fruits.
Bananas are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fiber and as ornamental plants.
Banana chips are a snack produced from dehydrated or fried banana or, preferably, plantain slices, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste.
Each pseudostem produce a bunch of yellow, green, or even reddish bananas before dying and being replaced by another pseudostem.
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 (NS 2006; Montpellier 2003).
Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole and Fyffes grow their own bananas in Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.
In 2003, India led the world in banana production, representing approximately 23 percent of the worldwide crop, most of which was for domestic consumption.
The earliest evidence of banana cultivation in Africa before these recent discoveries dates to no earlier than late sixth century C.E.
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 fibers, bleaching, and drying.
Some recent discoveries of banana phytoliths in Cameroon, dating to the first millennium B.C.E.
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 compared to the less widespread cultivars.
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 flavor and texture of bananas are affected by the temperature at which they ripen.
Bananas are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia.
The four leading banana exporting countries were Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Colombia, which accounted for about two-thirds of the world's exports, each exporting more than one million tons.
Many species of wild bananas still occur in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Bananas and plantains constitute a major staple food crop for millions of people in developing countries.
Unripe or green bananas and plantains are used for cooking various dishes and are the staple starch of many tropical populations.
Each individual fruit (known as a banana or "finger") has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion.