Banana is the generic name for a type of fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia. Bananas are likely to have been first cultivated in Papua New Guinea. Currently, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are grown primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fiber 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 heaight 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. A variety was even recently discovered in a rainforest in Asia that turns purple. This then dies and is replaced by another pseudostem.
The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier, 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 finger has a protective outer layer 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. Typically, the fruit has numerous strings which run between the skin and inner part. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium.
Bananas are grown in at least 107 countries. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. The bananas from a group of cultivar 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 desert bananas 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.
BASIC TRAITS
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 for cooking various dishes such as banana pudding and are the staple starch of some 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.
The commercial dessert cultivars most commonly eaten in clement countries 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 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, 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.
In addition to the fruit, the flower of the banana plant is used in Souhteast Asian, Telugu, Tamil, Bengalie, and Kerala cuisine, either served raw with dips or cooked in soups and curries. 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. 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 where bunches of green bananas surrounding a green coconut in a tray form an important part of traditional offerings to the Buddha and the Nats. The juice extract prepared from the tender core is used to treat kidney stone.
The leaves of the banana plant are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are used in several ways, including as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking or storage. 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. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. Unlike other fruits, it is difficult to extract juice from bananas because when compressed a banana simply turns to pulp.
Seeded bananas, the forerunner of the common domesticated banana, 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.
