It is believed that it was the Arabs who gave the plant its modern name. According to legend, Arab traders noted that bananas growing in Africa and Asia are small, only the size of a finger, and that is why they called them "banana", which in Arabic means "fingertip".
Do you know that...
…banana is the largest herb in the world. Often it is mistaken for a tree, but this is not so - a banana does not have a tree trunk and branches. A false trunk up to 3-6 meters high is formed from the underground root, crowned with a rosette of 10-12 oblong banana leaves. There are several hundred types of bananas that differ from each other in taste, color, shape and size.
Usage
In some countries, banana leaves are used as packaging (instead of cellophane) and even as tableware (for example, in South India). Banana leaves are also used as plates, tablecloths, and partitions between fire and pot. They are also used for covering roofs and tying ropes.
From cooking
Bananas can be eaten both fresh and dried. The dried fruit can be ground into a nutritious banana meal. A very old and traditional breakfast of the people of Mecca is an omelette with a banana. Banana is used in the preparation of the popular Masoub dish, which is usually served for breakfast by the people of Hejaz. The delicious Arabic dessert "Kanafa" is also made from a banana.
Where are found
Hundreds of banana plants grow in the tropics. Bananas also grow in Egypt, Yemen, Oman and other Arab countries. On the Nile, near Luxor (Egypt), local boats sail to the island of Gazirat al-Mauz (Banana Island), where visitors can pick fruits from a large banana garden. The banana has been grown in India for at least 4,000 years. Bananas are widely used in Indian folk medicine to treat diabetes.
Bananas are the cure for all diseases
Bananas are rich in potassium, riboflavin, niacin and fiber. They also contain vitamins A and C and some calcium and iron. Bananas are a fast source of energy. If you want to quickly restore your body's low energy level, there is no better snack than a banana. Containing three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose in combination with fibre, banana provides an immediate, substantial energy boost.
Studies have proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for 1.5 hours of vigorous work. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the banana is the No. 1 fruit of the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way bananas help us stay in shape. They also help to overcome or prevent a significant number of diseases or disease states and thus make themselves a necessary addition to the daily diet.
Anemia : Rich in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and help in cases of anemia.
Pressure : This unique tropical fruit is very rich in potassium and low in salt, making it ideal for lowering blood pressure. What's more, the US Food and Drug Administration has authorized the banana industry to make official claims about bananas' ability to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Mental capacity: 200 students at Twickenham School in Middlesex received bananas for breakfast, afternoon tea and lunch during the examination session to boost their intelligence. Studies have shown that a fruit high in potassium can help with learning by making students more attentive.
constipation : High in fiber, having bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel activity without resorting to laxatives.
Depression: According to recent observations made by the MIND organization among people suffering from depression, many feel better after eating bananas. This is because bananas contain trypottophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known for being relaxing, improving mood, and generally making you feel happier.
Hangover: One of the quickest ways to get over a hangover is to make a banana milkshake with honey. Banana soothes the stomach and, with the help of honey, raises low blood sugar levels, while milk calms and rehydrates your body.
Heartburn : Bananas have a natural antioxidant effect, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana to relieve pain.
morning weakness : Eating bananas between meals increases blood sugar levels and helps to avoid morning sickness.
Mosquito bites: Before looking for mosquito bite cream, try rubbing the inside of a banana peel on the bite. Many people find it surprisingly effective in reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: The high vitamin B content helps to calm the nervous system.
Overweight : Research by the Institute of Psychology in Austria found that stress and pressure at work lead to overeating of tasty foods, such as chocolate and chips. Looking at more than 5,000 patients, the researchers found that the most obese people were the most stressed at work. The researchers concluded that in order to avoid panic-induced eating, it is necessary to manage blood sugar levels by eating carbohydrate-rich foods (eg bananas) every two hours to maintain a constant level of sugar.
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): Forget pills and eat bananas. The vitamin B6 they contain regulates blood glucose levels, which affects your mood.
Ulcer: Bananas are used as a dietary food against internal diseases due to their soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be safely consumed during an ulcer flare-up. They also neutralize excess acidity and reduce irritation by coating the walls of the stomach.
Body temperature management: Many cultures view bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas so that the baby is born with a low temperature.
seasonal ailments : Bananas can help those suffering from seasonal ailments, as they contain a natural mood enhancer - trypotofan.
Smoking: Bananas can help people who are trying to quit smoking, as they are high in vitamins C, A1, B6, B12, as well as potassium and magnesium, helping the body overcome the effects of nicotine deficiency.
Stress: Potassium is an essential mineral that helps regulate the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain, and regulates the body's water balance. When we are under stress, our metabolic rate increases and potassium levels in the body decrease. The balance can be restored with bananas rich in potassium.
Heart beat: According to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the presence of bananas in the daily diet can reduce the risk of death from heart attacks by 40%.
Warts: People who prefer natural remedies swear that if you want to remove a wart, you need to take a piece of banana peel and apply it to the wart with the yellow side out, and secure with a band-aid or surgical tape.
Thus you see that bananas are a natural cure for many diseases. If you compare them to apples, they have 4 times the protein, 2 times the carbohydrates, 3 times the phosphorus, 5 times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. They are also rich in potassium and are one of the best foods. So maybe it's time to change the well-known proverb and say "One banana a day and we don't need a doctor."
Note: Due to the high sugar content, diabetics should limit themselves to half a banana per day.
Bananas are an amazing food - this is a fabulous fruit: they perfectly satisfy hunger, supply the body with energy and useful substances.
Banana (lat. Músa) is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the Banana family (Musaceae), which are native to the tropics of Southeast Asia (SEA) and, in particular, the Malay Archipelago. Bananas are also called the fruits of these plants, eaten. Various varieties of the sterile triploid cultigen Musa × paradisiaca (artificial species not found in the wild) based on some species of these plants are now widely cultivated in tropical countries and in many of them constitute a major export share. The banana is the fourth largest cultivated crop in the world, behind only rice, wheat and corn. The genus unites over 40 species, distributed mainly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The northernmost species is the Japanese Banana (Musa basjoo), originally from the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, grown as an ornamental plant on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, in the Crimea and Georgia.
Description
Banana is a herbaceous plant with a powerful root system, a short stem that does not protrude above the ground, and 6-20 leaves, the sheaths of which form a semblance of a trunk. Plant height varies from 2 to 9 m and even higher, which makes them one of the tallest (along with bamboos) grasses in the world; and it is not surprising that many mistake them for trees. Musa itinerans is considered the tallest plant of the banana genus - the height of its variety Musa itinerans var. gigantea can reach 12 m. A lot of side shoots form around the main stem, one of which subsequently replaces the previous one - this is how reproduction occurs. Roots numerous, fibrous; in noble soil they go up to 4.9 m to the side and up to 1.5 m deep.
The leaves are large, soft, smooth, oblong or oval, with parallel venation; arranged in a spiral. Their vaginas are coiled into a dense, multi-layered, fleshy tube called a false stalk. As the plant grows, young leaves appear inside the bundle, and the outer ones gradually die off and fall off. Weather permitting, this process continues at a rate of approximately one leaf per week. Cultivated banana leaves are up to 275 cm long and 60 cm wide and can be completely green, green with maroon spots, or green on the upper side and crimson underneath. In strong winds or heavy rain, the leaves are easily torn along the veins - this adaptation helps plants survive in tropical climates. When the banana is ready to bloom, a long peduncle develops at the growing point of the short stem, which passes through the false stem and emerges after the leaves.
Flowering occurs 8-10 months after the active growth of the plant. The inflorescence is a brush resembling an elongated lush bud of a purple or green hue, on which large female flowers are located at the base, then smaller bisexual ones, and at the end there are small male flowers. All flowers are tubular, consisting of 3 petals, 3 sepals, usually 6 stamens, one of which is underdeveloped and has no anther. Gynoecium syncarpous, consisting of 3 carpels forming a three-chambered ovary; flowers are arranged in tiers (the so-called "hands") and contain a large amount of nectar (up to 0.5 g per flower). Each layer is collected in a brush, consisting of 12-20 flowers arranged radially, and covered with fleshy, waxy to the touch covering leaves. Cultivated bananas have white flowers, with purple-covered leaves on the outside and dark red on the inside. Once opened, the male flowers usually fall off very quickly, leaving the upper part of the inflorescence bare, with the exception of the apical unopened bud. In wild-growing species, flowering begins at night or early in the morning - in the first case, bats contribute to their pollination, and in the second - birds and small mammals.
The fruit of one of the wild types of banana in the cut
Fruits develop only from female flowers (bisexual flowers are sterile); as it develops, each row of fruits more and more resembles a hand with many fingers, each of which is a thick-skinned, multi-seeded berry. The size, color and shape of the fruit can vary considerably depending on the species or variety, but most often they have an oblong cylindrical or triangular shape, straightened or rounded. The length of the fruit varies from 3 to 40 cm, thickness - from 2 to 8 cm. The color of the skin can be yellow, green, red or even silver. The flesh of the fruit is white, cream, yellow or orange. When immature, it is firm and sticky, but as it matures, it becomes soft and juicy. In cultivated forms, the fruit is often devoid of seeds and is able to reproduce only vegetatively, however, in wild plants, the pulp is filled with a large number of rounded or pointed hard seeds 3–16 mm long, and in terms of their mass they can prevail over the pulp. Up to 300 fruits with a total weight of 50-60 kg can be located on one axis. Bananas have a biological phenomenon known as negative geotropism - during the formation of fruits under the influence of gravity, they are directed downwards, but as they grow under the influence of hormones, one or more axes begin to grow vertically upwards. After the end of fruiting, the ground part of the plant dies off.
History
Banana is one of the oldest cultivated plants. Its homeland is considered to be the islands of the Malay Archipelago, where, as scientists believe, the ancient inhabitants grew them and ate them as a supplement to the fish diet. Traveling around the islands of the Pacific, they stocked up on the fruits they knew and thus contributed to the spread of bananas. The first modern scientist to establish the geographical origin of bananas was one of the founders of scientific breeding, Academician N. I. Vavilov, who in the 1920s and 1930s explored various regions of the world and described the results in his work “Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants”.
One of the first written mentions of bananas is contained in the ancient Indian manuscripts of the Mahabharata.
The first written mention of this fruit came to us in the Buddhist canon in the Pali language, dating back to the 5th-6th centuries BC. e. - probably by that time bananas, with the help of sailors, had already been introduced to India. Later, bananas are already quite often mentioned in ancient manuscripts in different languages. For example, the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana say that Buddhist monks are allowed to drink a drink made from bananas. Bananas are described in the Natural History of Plants by the ancient Greek philosopher and one of the founders of botany Theophrastus, who lived in the 4th century BC. e. The Chinese tactician and writer Yang Fu, who lived during the Chinese Liang Dynasty (502-557), in his Encyclopedia of Curiosities, first mentions the cultivation of bananas in this country. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder in Natural History (77) mentions that Alexander the Great during his campaign in India in 327 BC. e. I tried this fruit and even brought it with me to Europe. If until then there was no explicit designation for a banana in the Western world (the Greeks and Romans speak of it as “a wonderful Indian fruit tree”), then Pliny the Elder first mentions it as “pala” (“pala”). This name is still preserved in one of the Indian Malayalam languages.
Some scientists believe that bananas were also known in South America before the arrival of Europeans. The claims are substantiated by the fact that the remains of banana leaves were found in Peruvian Indian tombs. In addition, some believe that the "paradise fruit" in the Old Testament that tempted Adam and Eve in paradise meant exactly the banana. The last statement is extremely controversial, since neither the ancient Egyptians nor the ancient Jews knew anything about bananas.
After 650, bananas were brought from India to Palestine and the east coast of Africa - this time thanks to the Arabs, who actively traded in slaves and ivory (before Muhammad, the Arabs did not know about bananas). The modern name "banana", one way or another similar in all European languages, is of Arabic origin and literally means "finger" (in the Arabic language itself, the name موز is now used - muz). By the time of the active exploration of West Africa by Europeans, which took place in the 15th century, bananas were already well known there. After 1402, the Portuguese brought bananas from Guinea to the Canary Islands, where they began to grow them, and in 1516, only 24 years after the discovery of America by Columbus, they brought it to the island of Haiti. The last journey was led by the Spanish missionary monk Thomas de Berlanga (Spanish: Tomas de Berlanga).
Despite the fact that bananas quickly gained popularity in the tropics, they remained an extremely rare exotic product for a long time in European and American countries with a temperate climate, since one of the main requirements for their transportation and storage is to maintain a constant temperature no higher than 14 ° C. Only in the second half of the 19th century, with the invention of the first refrigeration plants and the construction of railways, did it become possible to deliver these fruits to the northern markets, first in the USA and then in Europe. Even today, not all varieties of this fruit are suitable for export, and many countries, such as China, India, Thailand and Brazil, grow bananas only for domestic consumption or export them in small quantities.
cultivation
As food, bananas are cultivated in the tropics, between about 30° N. sh. and 30°S sh., at an altitude of up to 2000 m above sea level. The most favorable conditions for plant growth are temperatures from 26 to 35 °C during the day and from 22 to 28 °C at night. At temperatures below 16 °C, growth slows down significantly, and at 10 °C it stops altogether. Only a few varieties, such as "Rajapuri", are able to withstand low temperatures around 0 ° C. The height above sea level at which plants take root depends on latitude - usually it does not exceed 920 m, although on the Hawaiian island of Maui they grow at an altitude of up to 1000 m, and in New Guinea - up to 2000 m above sea level. Of great importance for the cultivation of these fruits is also a certain humidity regime - the dry season should not last more than 3 months a year, and the average rainfall should be at least 100 mm per month. In the event of a short cold snap, banana plantations are tried to be heated - they are flooded with water or fumigated with smoke. Many crops are susceptible to high winds - the shallow root system is unable to hold the plant in place; and only the leaves tearing along the veins reduce the pressure on it. Commercial cultivation requires well-drained, preferably acidic soil. In soil that is not rich in minerals, plants with good care will also grow, but in this case, their cultivation may become economically unprofitable. The yield of fruits can reach up to 400 centners per hectare annually.
The period of full ripening of fruits, starting from planting, usually takes 10-12 months, and for some varieties - 17-19 months. For plantations, both fertile lands in river valleys and flat areas and hillsides are chosen. If the land is not subject to erosion, it is well plowed before planting. Reproduction is mainly vegetative, rarely by seeds. As a rule, planting is done before or at the beginning of the rainy season - in this case, the seedlings receive the amount of moisture they need. Planting density varies widely and depends on many factors - for example, denser planting improves wind resistance, but increases susceptibility to disease. In general, from 600 to 4400 plants can be placed on one hectare.
During growth, plantations are carefully weeded - a variety of methods are used to control weeds, such as the use of herbicides, mulching (covering the roots) with dry banana leaves, and even the use of geese, which willingly eat some weeds, while not touching bananas. If the soils are not fertile enough, then they are actively fertilized; the composition of minerals used for top dressing depends on each specific case - it can be nitrogen, potassium or phosphorus.
When the plants bear fruit, they must be propped up with wooden or bamboo poles so that they do not break under the weight of the fruit; and the fruits themselves, for better preservation, are covered with old dry leaves, tarpaulin, burlap, or plastic. The fruits are cut while still green, when they are only 75% ripe - in this form they are easier to transport and last longer. So that bananas do not lose their presentation, they are treated with lemon juice or dipped in carbonated mineral water. As a rule, the same plant is cultivated for 5-6 years, after which its yield decreases markedly; under normal conditions, bananas bear fruit for 25 years or more.
Eating
In many countries, bananas are one of the main sources of nutrition - for example, in Ecuador alone, the annual consumption of this product is 73.8 kg per capita (for comparison, in Russia this figure is 7.29 kg). Banana consumption is also significant in Burundi (189.4 kg), Samoa (85.0 kg), Comoros (77.8 kg) and the Philippines (40.6 kg).
Edible varieties of bananas are conditionally divided into two main groups: dessert bananas, used mainly in raw or dried form, and plantains (or plane trees), which require heat treatment before use. The pulp of dessert varieties is very sweet in taste, contains a large amount of carbohydrates, vitamin C and some essential minerals such as phosphorus, iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium (see the table of nutritional properties below). Plane (from Spanish plantar - to plant) - as a rule, fruits with green or red skin and starchy, hard and unsweetened pulp; before eating, they are fried, boiled or steamed. In addition to eating, plantains are often used as livestock feed.
Almost all currently grown bananas (both dessert varieties and plane trees) are variations (or cultigens) of the same cultigen (artificial species created by man) Musa × paradisiaca, which is a hybrid of Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana ) and less often the Maclay banana (Musa maklayi).
Varieties
In total, about 500 cultivated varieties of bananas are known, but some of them are little known or no longer cultivated due to disease. The world's largest collection of bananas, which includes more than 470 varieties and about 100 species, is located in the municipality of La Lima in Honduras.
* diploids(varieties with two haploid sets in the nucleus (2n)):
o Lady Finger, or Lady's Finger("Lady Finger", "Date", "Fig", "Dedo de Dama", etc.) - a plant up to 7.5 m high, with a thin stem and a well-developed root system. The fruits are small - 10-12.5 cm long, light yellow with red-brown strokes, with a thick skin, slightly ribbed. In a bunch of 12-20 fruits. The pulp is soft and very sweet. Widely cultivated in Australia; also common in Latin America. The variety is resistant to drought, Panama disease and rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae). Compared to the Gros Michel variety, it is less transportable.
* Triploids(varieties with three haploid sets in the nucleus (3n)):
o Gros Michel("Gros Michel") is formerly one of the best-selling banana varieties in North America and Europe. Cultivated in Central America and Central Africa. tall plant; fruits with thick skin, large, yellow, sweet, with a lot of starch. Has good transportability. The variety began to rapidly degrade under the influence of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense, which is known as Panama disease. In recent years, almost not cultivated.
o K dwarf Cavendish("Dwarf Cavendish") - a low (1.8-2.4 m) plant with wide leaves. Resistant to low (up to 0 °C) temperatures. The fruits are bright yellow, medium-sized, thin-skinned. Outwardly, this variety differs in that, unlike others, when it blooms, male flowers do not fall off, but dry up, while remaining on the pedicel. On the peel of ripe fruits (like other varieties from the Cavendish group), small brown spots appear. It grows in West and South Africa, as well as in the Canary Islands. Susceptible to black weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) and roundworms (Nematoda).
o Giant Cavendish("Giant Cavendish", "Mons Mari", "Williams", Williams Hybrid) - plant 2.5-5 m tall. Compared to the Dwarf Cavendish, the fruits are thicker-skinned and larger. Cultivated in Taiwan, Hawaii, Colombia, Australia, Martinique and Ecuador.
o Lakatan("Lacatan", "Pisang masak hijau") - the tallest plant from the Cavendish group - the height is 420-490 cm; fruit length 15-20 cm Grows in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Jamaica. Leaves with red edges. Sensitive to black weevil and roundworms. Currently, it is not grown on an industrial scale due to poor keeping of fruits.
o Robusta("Robusta") - another variety from the Cavendish group, close to the Lakatan variety, but shorter in comparison. It is cultivated on an industrial scale in Brazil, Samoa and Fiji and Australia. Recently, more and more grown in the Caribbean and Central America, where it is replacing Lakatan and Gros Michel.
o Valerie("Valery") is one of the tallest plants from the Cavendish group. In terms of nutritional properties, it almost does not differ from Robusta, but the fruit, unlike other varieties of this group, hardens when cooked and resembles wax in consistency. Resistant to Panama disease, but susceptible to black weevil and roundworms.
o ice cream("Ice Cream", "Cenizo", "Krie") is a tall (300-450 cm) plant with a long flower stem. Grown in the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines and Central America. Fruit 17.5-22.8 cm long; unlike other varieties, when unripe, it has a bluish color with a silvery tint, and when ripe it becomes pale yellow. The pulp is white, sweet.
o mysore("Mysore", "Fillbasket", "Poovan") - Indian variety, 420-480 cm tall; occupies about 70% of the entire banana industry in this country. Named after the city of Mysore, the second largest city in the state of Karnataka. Also grown in Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Ceylon. Resistant to Panama disease. The fruits are medium in size, thin-skinned, bright yellow, sweet and sour in taste.
o Rajapuri("Rajapuri") - also an Indian variety, 210-240 cm tall. It is grown in small areas on the periphery of fields. Resistant to strong winds, infertile soils and even light frosts. Compared to other varieties, the leaves are wider - up to 90 cm. The fruit is large and very sweet.
Banana in art
The banana has become widespread in art. At the beginning of the 20th century, the banana was perceived by the public as an exotic fruit from tropical countries, where the natives go almost naked. American mulatto dancer Josephine Baker, playing along with such sentiments, performed in a costume made from bananas, as a result of which she became one of the most popular actresses in France.
Alternative band The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, featured a rotten yellow banana on the cover. This drawing by Andy Warhol is one of the most famous and recognizable album covers in the world.
Interesting Facts
* For the first time, the name Musa, which later became scientific, was assigned to the banana by the German naturalist Georg Rumphius, the predecessor of the founder of the scientific classification of the Swedish physician Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus, compiling the classification of plants, retained this name. There are two theories about where this word came from, but in any case it is not connected with the muses. According to the first theory, the name was given in honor of Antony Musa, the court physician of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. According to the second theory, the name comes from the Arabic word "muz" (Arabic موز), which the Arabs call bananas.
* In the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum, supporters of the project used a banana as their symbol, while opponents used an orange.
* Maned wolf - a predatory mammal of the canine family - eats bananas.
* In the 1930s, bananas were declared an "unpatriotic" fruit in Nazi Germany (the currency needed to buy them was used for other purposes). As part of this campaign, German doctors issued "warnings about the dangers" of banana, the use of which allegedly leads to "intestinal volvulus". Fruit shop managers were required to put up posters reading "A true patriot eats German apples."
* An Estonian named Mait Lepik became the world champion banana eater by eating ten bananas in just three minutes - to save time, he ate bananas with the skin on. The world record for eating bananas is 81 bananas per hour.
And did you know that...
...banana is the world's largest herb. It is often mistaken for a tree, but this is not so - a banana does not have a tree trunk and branches. A false trunk up to 3-6 meters high is formed from the underground root, crowned with a rosette of 10-12 oblong banana leaves. There are several hundred types of bananas that differ from each other in taste, color, shape and size.
It is believed that it was the Arabs who gave the plant its modern name.
According to legend, Arab traders noted that bananas growing in Africa and Asia are small, only the size of a finger, and that is why they called them "banana", which in Arabic means "fingertip".
Bananas are rich in potassium, riboflavin, niacin and fiber. They also contain vitamins A and C and some calcium and iron. Bananas are a fast source of energy.
Usage: In some countries, banana leaves are used as packaging (instead of cellophane) and even as tableware (for example, in South India). Banana leaves are also used as plates, tablecloths, and partitions between fire and pot. They are also used for covering roofs and tying ropes.
From cooking: bananas can be used in food both fresh and dried. The dried fruit can be ground into a nutritious banana meal. A very old and traditional Mecca breakfast is an omelet with a banana. Banana is used in the preparation of the popular dish "Masub", which is usually served for breakfast by the people of Hijaz. The delicious Arabic dessert "Kanafa" is also made from a banana.
Uses in Arabia: 1) Banana is used for diarrhea by mixing it with cornstarch and water; 2) you can make yogurt or puree from a banana; 3) you can make tea from a banana.
And further…
Hundreds of banana plants grow in the tropics. Bananas also grow in Egypt, Yemen, Oman and other Arab countries. On the Nile, near Luxor (Egypt), local boats sail to the island of Gazirat al-Mauz (Banana Island), where visitors can pick fruits from a large banana garden.
The banana has been grown in India for at least 4,000 years. Bananas are widely used in Indian folk medicine to treat diabetes.
Bananas are very popular since ancient times. Today they can be seen for sale all over the world, and not just in the places of their direct growth.
What makes bananas so attractive? Bananas are easy to peel They are handy to have on hand when you need a snack. This fruit is classified as hypoallergenic, which allows it to be eaten even by babies. Bananas are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and potassium.
It is believed that the birthplace of bananas the jungle of Asia. The stem of a banana is not wooden, so a wind of more than 25 m/s can easily destroy an entire banana plantation in a minute. That is why every plant has a backup. Bananas are harvested 8-10 weeks after they appear on the branches. They are harvested green and sent to ripen in special factories, after which they get on store shelves.
What is "banana"?
Banana is a berry, and the plant itself is grass, it can grow up to 10 meters in height and up to 40 cm in width. But the stem is hollow. The banana has over 500 varieties and grows in various parts of the world. These plants belong to the same botanical family as lilies and orchids. But simply put, as you know from the school biology course, a banana is a grass.
The name "banana" was derived from the Arabic word "banan", which means finger. A total of 16.5 million bananas are grown in India each year and India is the leading banana producer compared to the rest of the world.
Bananas are loaded with nutrients. Banana contains a large amount of vitamins: A, C and E, as well as, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, folic acid, vitamin B12 and many other minerals like iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, fluorine some of the others. nutrients. However, many scientists believe that the banana as a plant may soon become extinct due to environmental changes.
If you bought bananas and don't want their peel to turn black Store fruits at room temperature. If the banana needs to ripen a little, put it in the refrigerator, while the peel will turn black, but the fruit itself will become sweeter. You can also help a banana ripen at room temperature by placing the banana in a brown paper bag overnight. If you put already ripened bananas in the same bag, the process will speed up. Bananas can be frozen by placing in vacuum bags or containers, after removing the peel.
Fully green or green-tipped bananas are best suited for cooking in general and, in particular, for frying. A banana ripens best outside the plant that gave it birth, so don't be afraid to buy green bananas. If you leave a banana to ripen on a branch of a plant, then the peel will crack and the fruit will become tasteless, which is why bananas are harvested while still green.
Propagate bananas not by seeds, since the latter are sterile, but by shoots from rhizomes. Bananas need a tropical climate, plenty of sun and water, and nutrient-rich soil to grow and reproduce. In addition to the pulp itself, banana peel is also used. It is a good fertilizer for rose bushes. It is enough just to dig a hole near the rose bush and place a banana peel there.
- Alexander the Great in 327 BC ate a banana in India in recognition of the new faith.
- A city in northern Thailand has an annual festival called the Egg Banana Festival after the harvest. On this day, the main temple in the city is decorated with green bananas or red banana flowers, and the residents bring banana offerings to the temple.
- One of the predators of the canine family, the Maned Wolf, treats bananas quite adequately and eats them with pleasure.
- In Egypt, the cultivation of bananas was taken very seriously and even detailed "instructions" for banana growing were left on the walls.
- In most countries, bananas are served as a side dish for meat or fish and are willingly cooked.
- Alcoholic drinks are made from bananas, and their strength reaches 28 degrees.
- Bananas have seeds, but contrary to all the laws of nature, bananas cannot reproduce by seeds - they are sterile, and the main method of banana propagation is shoots from rhizomes.
- Bananas are harvested unripe, because, ripening in artificial conditions, they become much more useful than they would have been harvested already ripe. In addition, it is difficult to catch the moment when bananas are exactly ripe, and overripe ones immediately burst and become tasteless.
- Banana bushes are always tied up, because a strong gusty wind can blow away the entire plantation in a minute, because the stems themselves have no support.
- There are a huge number of different varieties of bananas in the world, among them are red, green, black, golden. And those bananas that we eat, by the standards of the inhabitants of other countries, do not have good taste and are generally feed for livestock.
- Banana skins can be used as an excellent fertilizer for rose bushes.
- Bananas are very high in calories, and dried bananas are five times more caloric than fresh bananas. Theoretically, you can live on bananas all your life without dying of hunger and lack of vitamins.
- Banana is the most heart-healthy food because bananas contain a lot of potassium, which helps to strengthen the heart muscle and normalize blood pressure.
- In India, thousands of bananas are simply crushed to launch a single ship.
- In the world, the banana industry is so developed that the entire annual harvest is enough to feed fifteen kilograms of all people on the planet, including babies.
- Once in England, a girl died after eating 4 bananas. It was in 1946, after the war, these 4 bananas were among the first batch of bananas brought to England after a long break.
- The Latin name for banana is "musa sapientum", which can be translated as "fruit of the sage".
- Bananas are radioactive because they contain a relatively large amount of potassium, including the radioactive isotope potassium-40.
- The vast majority of commercial banana bushes (and these are the bushes) are clones of each other and originated from a single plant in South Asia. This makes them extremely sensitive to environmental conditions and prone to extinction.
- Now the most popular banana variety is Cavendish, and before that its place was occupied by Gros Michel, whose plants were also actually clones of each other and supplied the world with bananas until the middle of the 20th century. The Gros Michel fruit was larger than the Cavendish, lasted longer and tolerated transportation better. In the middle of the last century, the Gros Michel variety almost completely disappeared from the face of the Earth due to a fungus called "Panama disease" that affected plants of this particular species. Now a similar threat looms over Cavendish bananas.
- There are more than a thousand varieties of bananas in the world, but almost all of them are unpleasant in taste. Of the sweet, edible and disease-resistant bananas, Rajapuri, Mysore (sweet and sour), Ice cream, Robusta and Lady Finger are known.
- Bananas of the Goldfinger variety do not taste like "classic" bananas, they are more like apples. This is a hybrid bred by Philip Rove, which is grown in small quantities in Australia.
- Americans eat bananas the most of all fruits. There are almost 12 kilograms of bananas per person in the US every year, which is more than the consumption of apples and oranges combined.
- Which country eats the most bananas? In Uganda, where each resident eats more than 220 kilograms of bananas a year, that is, bananas have to be eaten on the first, second and third.
- The banana tree is not a tree - it's more of a bush, or more accurately, a grass. The root structure comes to the surface in a dense stem, which is why the banana is called a tree-like plant. In addition, the banana plant is a perennial, and also the largest such plant in the world.
- Want to be always in a good mood - eat bananas. They contain a special amino acid tryptophan, as well as vitamin B6, with the help of which the body produces serotonin, a natural antidepressant.
- Bananas are one of the healthiest sources of nutrients. They have almost no fat, very few calories, and are high in vitamin B6, fiber, and potassium.
- Bananas also contain phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper and selenium. I am silent about vitamins A, B1, B2, C, E, K and others - they are also present in bananas. According to experts, eating bananas reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer.
- The expression "banana republic" refers to small states ruled by petty tyrants who support banana companies (surprisingly!) in large quantities for pennies.
- A bunch of bananas is called a "brush", and a single banana is called a "finger". In general, the modern word "banana" in Arabic means exactly "finger".
- In Uganda, bananas are used to make beer. By the way, very good, fruit beer contains almost 28% alcohol.
- Bananas are not only yellow, but also red. Reds have a more tender flesh, and they do not tolerate transportation. Seychelles MAO is the only place in the world where golden, red and black bananas grow. Locals, of course, eat them: this is a side dish that is served with lobsters and shellfish.
- By the way, the way they are collected also deserves attention. This requires two people. One knocks down a bunch of bananas from the stalk with a long pole, and the second is already at the bottom, substituting his back. Bananas fall right on top of him and he carries them to the warehouse. The Human Rights Commission was horrified.
- The most interesting application for bananas was found in India. Who hasn't had to slip or even fall by stepping on a banana peel! So, in India, this unpleasant property of banana skins is still used to this day in order to make it easier to launch ships. To do this, the trigger plane (slip) is simply smeared with crushed bananas. It takes about 20,000 bananas to launch one medium-displacement ship.
Banana related records
- The Estonian participant Mait Lepik won the world's first competition. He managed to swallow 10 bananas in 3 minutes. But we do not recommend repeating his feat, because he ate them right with the peel, and this can be very dangerous for health.
- The world record for eating bananas is 81 bananas per hour, which is 1.35 bananas per minute and 0.0225 bananas per second.
- Bananas grow in bunches of 15-20 pieces in a bunch, and in total there are up to 300 bananas on a bush.
- 100,000,000,000 bananas are eaten annually in the world, which makes this product the fourth largest among all agricultural crops, behind only wheat, rice and corn.
Bananamania
India is considered the birthplace of the banana. It was from there that these sweet fruits spread throughout the tropical zone. Banana means finger in Arabic.
In fact, much of what you have heard about bananas is not true. They don't grow on palm trees: the banana is a grass. Moreover, this grass grows by 15 meters, or even more. Pollinated at night and exclusively by bats. The banana fruit is a berry. These berries are transported to special banana carrier ships.
What is made from bananas in their homeland? Well, for example, beer, which reaches a fortress of 28 degrees. Wild bananas have seeds. In some countries, banana grass tubers are considered more palatable than the fruit. In the same countries banana skins are smoked - banarets stronger than the blackest cigars. In the Philippines, bananas are used to make cardboard.
The color of bananas is simply amazingly diverse, in warm countries you can find not only yellow, but also green, brown, orange, pink, red and even purple fruits. 
To date, there are about 400 varieties.
There are two classifications of bananas - according to their purpose and scientific. According to the first bananas are divided into table, dessert and vegetable. Table bananas of varietal groups Cavendish, Gros Michel, Lacatan make up the bulk of the world's banana exports. That's what we eat.
Red bananas differ from traditional table bananas in the color of their skins, which can be red, maroon and reddish brown. In a number of varieties, the flesh has a pink color, their fruits are thicker and rounded, and the taste is similar to the taste of a fruit banana. Apple, baby, sugar, ladies bananas are different varieties of mini bananas. Their fruits reach a length of 8 - 12 centimeters. They rarely reach us, because they are poorly stored.
Vegetable bananas of the Planteyn varietal group they are eaten mainly after cooking and become black, not yellow, when ripe. Outwardly, they differ from traditional table bananas in larger sizes.
In Russia, up to 20 varieties are sold.
Now for some botany. The fact that a banana is a perennial herb, you have already learned. However, not everyone knows that the stem of this grass is underground and is a rhizome, the mass of which can reach 10 kg! What is on the surface and is usually called a stem or trunk are leaves wrapped one around the other. Such a false trunk reaches a height of 10-15 m and 60 cm in diameter. At the top of the false trunk is a nondescript inflorescence, from which the fruits develop. The fruits on the plant appear after 6-10 months. Such a stem lives only one year, because. after fruit ripening, it dies off.
Now about culinary addictions. If for us bananas are more like a dessert, then for the inhabitants of the tropics it is a “second bread” or a “strategic” product, successfully replacing side dishes, potatoes, bread and even meat. So, in Cuba, french bananas are considered a popular dish, in Australia, bananas are cut lengthwise into two halves, rolled in flour and breadcrumbs, sprinkled with salt and pepper and fried in boiling fat. Africans add bananas to all dishes - scrambled eggs, soup, porridge, and even served as a side dish to fish. But most of the banana harvest on the Black Continent is used to make fruit beer. Europeans are not used to cooking bananas, but they treat these fruits with great respect.
Such a universal love for bananas is not accidental, because it is not only a tasty and quite satisfying product, but also a wonderful source of vitamins and minerals, especially potassium.
Choosing bananas is very easy - for urgent use, you need to buy yellow fruits with a smooth matte skin. However, even completely green fruits can easily ripen at your place, and this will not affect the taste and the presence of vitamins in purchased bananas. Even in warm countries, the fruits are harvested green. After all, bananas ripening on a tree do not gain the necessary taste and aroma, but, on the contrary, lose them, the peel of the fruit cracks and the pulp is easily affected by diseases, therefore these fruits are harvested unripe.
Do not store purchased bananas in the refrigerator. Like any tropical fruit, In the cold, bananas lose their taste and aroma, it is best to store at room temperature.
Peeled bananas must be eaten immediately, otherwise the flesh will oxidize, turn brown and lose vitamins.
Why is it that one banana is sweet and the other has no taste at all? And because the banana, although the same, is different. The most important thing in this berry is how and where it ripened. After all, fruits are transported only green, unripe. Some of them manage to reach the condition on the way, but these will definitely not be sweet. Survivors are treated with gas in a special room. It's not scary, it's technology. The fruit releases ethylene gas when ripe. Therefore, if a green fruit is treated with gas, it begins to ripen on its own and does it correctly, as in nature. If for about a week everything is in order with gas and temperature (when laying it, it should be 18 degrees and every day must go down by about a degree), then the berries turn out to be licking your fingers. And if it’s not normal, then they don’t work out ... True, those who ate this fruit ripened on their native branch say that the sensations are much richer. But what to do - you can not carry them mature.
But even from artificially ripened bananas, you can cook delicious and fragrant dishes.
RECIPES
BANANA SPECIAL PURPOSE
Nobody knows anything about bananas. Neither the one who sells, nor the one who eats them. Horror. Need to do something
IN In fact, everything you've heard about bananas isn't true. They don't grow on palm trees: the banana is a grass. Moreover, this grass grows by 15 meters, or even more. Pollinated at night and exclusively by bats. The banana fruit is a berry. These berries are transported on special banana carriers. Beer from bananas reaches a strength of 28 degrees. Banana means finger in Arabic. Wild bananas have seeds. In some economically backward countries, banana grass tubers are considered more palatable than the fruit. In the same countries they smoke banana skins - banarets are stronger than the blackest cigarettes. In the Philippines, bananas are made into cardboard, because they are no good for anything else, very bitter. And, finally, the fact that there are as many as 400 varieties of bananas, and only a quarter of them are inedible.Russian GOST, however, thinks differently. According to him, there are only three varieties of bananas: extra, first and second. The diameter of the fruit of the extra grade and the first grade should be 3 - 4 cm, the second grade - from 2.7 to 4.1 cm. The length of the extra bananas should be more than 20 cm, the first grade - 19 cm, and the second - 14 cm. The fruit should be "consumer maturity", that is, evenly yellow, but without spots. Should not be chilled - such bananas have a grayish-yellow skin color.
“But what about pink bananas,” someone who has been to some Mexico will ask? Where are they? Why does a banana only have to be yellow when it can also be black? And this is all because only two varieties of banana are produced on an industrial scale all over the world - Gross Michel and the same Cavendish, which, due to the banana epidemic invented by PR people, is allegedly threatened with complete extinction. These bananas are sweet, table bananas, they are eaten raw. There are other varieties, starchy ones: they are just boiled, fried, steamed, dried, and generally cooked in every possible way. There are varieties of dessert, small, exotic color and taste. And there are no fodder bananas. It's just such an urban myth.
“How can it not happen?!” the discerning reader will say. “Why is one banana sweet, and the other mother-in-law is ashamed to give?” And because the banana, although the same, is different. The most important thing in this berry is how and where it ripened. After all, fruits are transported only green, unripe. Some of them manage to reach the condition on the way, but these will definitely not be sweet. Survivors are treated in a special room, God forgive me, with gas.
It's not scary, it's technology. Fruit releases ethylene gas when ripe. Therefore, if a green fruit is treated with gas, it begins to ripen on its own and does it correctly, as in nature. They even bend in the right direction: after all, those bananas that do not fall from their native branch into the hold of a banana truck, during the natural ripening process, stretch upwards towards the sun. They say it's because of special growth hormones. If for about a week everything is in order with gas and temperature (when laying it, it should be 18 degrees and every day must go down by about a degree), then the berries turn out to be licking your fingers. And if it’s not normal, then they don’t work out ... True, those who ate this fruit ripened on their native branch say that the sensations are much richer. But what to do - you can’t carry them mature ...
After the Russians ate their fill of the familiar "Cavendish", some of them wanted something more exotic. Now in advanced stores you can also find dessert varieties. There are short fat red bananas, and small "finger" bananas with a sweet honey taste, and manzano bananas with a delicate apple tint, which are eaten when they turn completely black, and tiny misore bananas from India, and bananas of the variety "orinoco" with a light strawberry flavor... All this fruit splendor is practically unbearable for transportation. The skin of most mini bananas is no thicker than a millimeter. How to carry them? Hence the prices...
Those fruits that belong to the "Plantain" varieties are usually fried in Latin America and Africa. If you see a price tag like "boiling bananas" in the supermarket, it's likely to be them. These are starchy or vegetable bananas: they are used for food after cooking (they are also eaten raw, but instead of aspirin, they greatly bring down the temperature). "Plantain" is larger than the usual table banana in size, it looks ribbed and angular and does not turn yellow when ripe, but blackens. They are boiled, fried, dried and made into chips, like potatoes. They are most similar in taste to potatoes.
Dmitry NAZAROV
P.S.:
What bananas! Try to enter in the line of some search engine on the Internet, as I did, the words "how to choose potatoes for frying." The answer to you will be: "The desired combination of words is not found anywhere." It's a shame, the right word, because any foreign cook from the most seedy Moscow restaurant knows that potatoes are different from potatoes. Each dish has its own variety: for frying, for example, the “luck” variety is ideal, but other early varieties with a low starch content are also suitable. On the contrary, starch varieties are brewed, for example, Zhukovsky early. And the French variety "Adretta" is best suited for mashed potatoes, and it is a pleasure to bake it: it turns out soft, loose - delicious!If no one, even the director of the supermarket, has been able to tell you what kind of potato you bought, you can advise a few simple rules. If the potatoes are yellow - this is for soup, pink - fry, from white - mash.
Photos used in the material: Photo Library, Reuters
In Latin, the banana is called "musa sapientum", which means "fruit of the wise man". India is considered the birthplace of the banana, and the word "banana" itself is of Creole origin and simply means "yum-yum". It was from there that these sweet fruits spread throughout the tropical zone. Banana means finger in Arabic. In fact, much of what you have heard about bananas is not true. They do not grow on palm trees: the banana is a herb that does not have a hard stem. The stalk of banana grass sometimes reaches 10 meters in height and above, and 40 centimeters in diameter. As a rule, 300 fruits with a total weight of 500 kg hang on one such stalk.
Fruits on a banana plant appear after 6-10 months. Its stem lives only one year, because. after fruit ripening, it dies off.
Pollinated at night and exclusively by bats. The banana fruit is a berry. These berries are transported on special banana carriers. Wild bananas have seeds. In some countries, banana grass tubers are considered more palatable than the fruit. In the same countries, banana skins are smoked - banarets are stronger than the blackest cigars. In the Philippines, bananas are used to make cardboard.
Bananas contain more vitamin B6 than other fruits. This vitamin is known to be responsible for a good mood. The fruit pulp contains a lot of sucrose, vitamins C, B1, B2, PP, E, carotene, enzymes, microelements (especially potassium); there are organic acids (predominantly malic), fiber, essential oil, starch. If you compare them to apples, they have 4 times the protein, 2 times the carbohydrates, 3 times the phosphorus, 5 times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.
If for us bananas are more like a dessert, then for the inhabitants of the tropics it is a “second bread” or a “strategic” product that successfully replaces side dishes, potatoes, bread and even meat. So, in Cuba, french bananas are considered a popular dish, in Australia, bananas are cut lengthwise into two halves, rolled in flour and breadcrumbs, sprinkled with salt and pepper and fried in boiling fat. Africans add bananas to all dishes - scrambled eggs, soup, porridge, and even served as a side dish to fish. But most of the banana harvest on the Black Continent is used to make fruit beer.
Choosing bananas is very simple - for urgent use, you need to buy yellow fruits with a smooth matte skin. However, even completely green fruits can easily ripen at your place, and this will not affect the taste and the presence of vitamins in purchased bananas. Even in warm countries, the fruits are harvested green. After all, bananas that ripen on a tree do not gain the necessary taste and aroma, but rather lose them, the peel of the fruit cracks and the pulp is easily affected by diseases, so these fruits are harvested unripe.
Do not store purchased bananas in the refrigerator. Like any tropical fruit, bananas lose their taste and aroma in the cold, it is best to store at room temperature. Peeled bananas must be eaten immediately, otherwise the flesh will oxidize, turn brown and lose vitamins.
Why is it that one banana is sweet and the other has no taste at all? And because the banana, although the same, is different. The most important thing in this berry is how and where it ripened. After all, fruits are transported only green, unripe. Some of them manage to reach the condition on the way, but these will definitely not be sweet. Survivors are treated with gas in a special room. It's not scary, it's technology. The fruit releases ethylene gas when ripe. Therefore, if a green fruit is treated with gas, it begins to ripen on its own and does it correctly, as in nature.
If for about a week everything is in order with gas and temperature (when laying it, it should be 18 degrees and every day must go down by about a degree), then the berries turn out to be licking your fingers. And if it’s not normal, then they don’t work out ... True, those who ate this fruit ripened on their native branch say that the sensations are much richer. But what to do - you can not carry them mature.
Bananas are the only fruit that never, under any circumstances, give babies an allergic reaction. That is why bananas are a popular solid food for babies. In addition, they are useful when children have stomach ailments.
Bananas contain a lot of tyramine, a highly active toxic substance that resembles adrenaline in action. It can provoke an increase in blood pressure and blood sugar levels, overexcitation of the nervous system, lead to muscle hypertonicity and cause migraines. Bananas should not be carried away also because they contain a rather high percentage of xenobiotics - chemicals alien to the body that change the human hormonal background. Bananas are brought from the tropics green, and already on the spot they are processed for ripening with a special gas.
In women, it stimulates the excessive production of estrogen hormones, and in men - androgens. With a serious overdose, the health consequences can be the most unpleasant: premature puberty in children, menstrual irregularities in women. Well, in smaller doses - mood swings, neurosis, poor sleep. A person gets up in the morning tired, as if he had unloaded the wagons all night, and by the evening he literally falls down.
