The banana is a rather curious fruit. A berry by nature, the starchy fruit is packed with essential nutrients and has played an important part in the development and economies of numerous tropical cultures. It’s not surprising, as the banana is one of the most consumed fruits worldwide. In fact, according to a 2010 USDA report, Americans ate 10.4 pounds of fresh bananas per person annually.
Yet, how much do we really know about this curious, but oh-so-common fruit that Americans cannot feasibly grow outside Hawaii and Puerto Rico? The humble banana has a curious history when you sit down and really get to know it…
1. To begin with, nearly 47% of bananas we consume are clones of each other. Known as the Cavendish banana, these bananas are named after William Cavendish, a Duke of Devonshire, who raised one of the first specimens in the 1840’s which became the progenitor of all the bananas we eat today.
The Cavendish rose to popularity after the previous master variety, the Gros Michel, was nearly wiped out by Panama disease devastating crops.
The Cavendish is praised for its disease resistance, large fruit, and ability to travel. The Cavendish does not produce seeds (after all, when was the last time you’ve seen a banana seed?) and new trees are grown from cuttings of roots from established trees. Of course, a major worry these days is that another disease could wipe out the Cavendish the way the Gros Michel was. The result would be skyrocketing prices for bananas and the need to find a replacement cultivar.
2. Banana trees are prized for the utility – while the fruit offers a form of food, the large flower that grows at the end of a young banana fruit is also prized in many South Asian and tropical cuisines. The flower is often slivered and used in salads dressed with citrus.
3. Bananas are slightly radioactive, containing trace amounts of potassium-40.
4. While we call a large number of bananas a bunch, the actual term is calling them a hand of bananas. Naturally, a single banana is called a finger.
5. It is suspected that banana cultivation stretches back to nearly 8000 BC throughout Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, and parts of Africa.
6. While there are numerous other types of bananas that we eat such as red bananas and plantains, most varieties aren’t grown for consumption. This is because the fruit is too starchy and often contains dozens of large, inedible seeds.
7. The super-growers, Dole and Chiquita, grow most of the bananas that we get from the Caribbean. Many of the so called “peasant bananas” grown vanished as small farmers were unable to compete or even pay to get their fruit exported. The same is true in South and Central America. Be sure to buy bananas that are promoted by responsible and verified Fair Trade organizations to ensure the survival of local banana farmers.
