For other meanings, see banana (disambiguation)

A banana plant is a herb in the genus Musa, which because of its size and structure, is often mistaken for a tree. Bananas are of the family Musaceae, and closely related to plantains. Globally, bananas rank fourth after rice, wheat and maize in human consumption; they are grown in 130 countries worldwide, more than for any other fruit crop. Bananas are native to tropical southeastern Asia.

The stems grow to 4–8 m tall, with large leaves 2–3 m long. The term banana is also applied to the elongated fruit (technically a false berry of the plant, species and varieties) in hanging clusters, several to many fruits to a tier (called a hand), many tiers to a bunch. Bananas typically weigh between 125–200 g, though this varies considerably between different cultivars; of this, about 80% is edible, and the skin the remaining 20%.

The total of hanging clusters is called a 'stem' in the commercial world. The banana was originally cultivated by pre-historic peoples in southeast Asia and the western Pacific Ocean islands.

The flavour and texture of many kinds of bananas are affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas spoil and turn grey at low temperatures and are only refrigerated down to 13.5В°C during transportation.

In 2002, over 68 million tonnes were harvested of which 12 million tonnes were traded worldwide, with Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and the Philippines exporting over 1 million tonnes of bananas each.

History

The domestication of bananas took place in southeastern Asia. Many species of wild bananas still occur in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. 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 BC, and possibly goes back to 8000 BC. This would make the New Guinean highlands the place where bananas were first domesticated. It is likely that other species of wild bananas were later also domesticated elsewhere in southeastern Asia.

The banana is mentioned for the first time in written history in Buddhist texts in 600 BC. Alexander the Great discovered the taste of the banana in the valleys of India in 327 BC. The existence of an organized banana plantation could be found in China back in the year AD 200. In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine. Arab merchants eventually spread bananas over much of Africa.

In 1502, Portuguese colonists started the first banana plantations in the Caribbean and in Central America. The word 'banana' came via Spanish or Portuguese from a West African language (possibly Wolof) circa 1597, though the scientific name for the genus is similar to the Arabic and Persian names for the fruit itself.

Properties

Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colours; most cultivars are yellow when ripe but some are red. The ripe fruit is easily peeled and eaten raw or cooked. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can be starchy to sweet, and firm to mushy. Unripe or 'green' plantains and bananas are used in cooking and are the staple starch of some tropical populations.

While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, seedless and triploid cultivars have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. The plant is allowed to produce 2 shoots at a time—a larger one for fruiting immeditely and a smaller 'sucker' or 'follower' that will produce fruit in 6–8 months time. The life of a banana plantation is 25 years or longer, during which time the individual stools or planting sites may move slightly from their original positions as lateral rhizome formation dictates. Latin Americans sometimes comment that the plants are "walking" over time. A stem of bananas can weigh from 30–50 kg, and they are usually carried on the shoulder.

The commercial sweet varieties most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa x paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics, where they are popular in part because 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 outside of the tropics.

It is common for fruit exports to be dominated by a single or very few cultivars (another example is the mango cultivar 'Tommy Atkins'). As in this case, the most important properties making 'Cavendish' important are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars are rarely as sweet or as good flavour as many less widespread cultivars. This is also related to the fact that export bananas are picked green, and ripen on route.

Banana chips are a snack produced from bananas. Dried bananas have a dark brown colour and a typical intense banana taste. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. However unlike other fruits, bananas have only recently been used to prepare juice and squashes. Despite an 85% water content, it has historically been difficult to extract juice from the fruit because when compressed, a banana simply turns to pulp. In 2004, scientists at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India, patented a technique for extracting juice by treating banana pulp in a reaction vessel for four to six hours [1].

In addition to the fruits, the flower of the banana plant (also known as banana blossom or banana heart) is used in Southeast Asian, Bengali and Kerala (India) cooking, either served raw with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used, notably in Burmese, Bengali and Kerala cooking.

Banana leaves, large, flexible, and waterproof, are used as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking. Chinese zongzi and Central American tamales are sometimes steamed in banana leaves, and the Hawaiian imu is often lined with them. In South India, the leaves are used as a natural plate to serve food. Once eaten, the leaf is thrown away for cattle consumption, an eco-friendly practice. The practice has regained popularity due to the hygiene it offers and the fact that it saves on water and detergents that would normally have been used to clean a plate. Moreover, hot food served in a tender banana leaf manifests a distinct banana flavour that is also said to have nutritional benefits.

Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana) considered to be one of the forerunners of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia.

Cultivation

Bananas are sterile, meaning that they do not produce viable seeds. Lacking seeds, another form of propagation is needed. The two standard ways to plant bananas are to either transplant part of the root (called a “corm”) or to transplant suckers (shoots that develop at the bases of the banana plant). Suckers are living plants and are too delicate to transport over long distances and they must be handled with some care. Corms on the other hand are similar to flower bulbs. They can be left out of the ground for up to 2 weeks; they need no one to water or tend them, and can be boxed together for shipment.

Banana pests and diseases

While in no danger of outright extinction, in the next 10-20 years the most common edible banana cultivar the 'Cavendish' could become unviable for large-scale cultivation. The predecessor to 'Cavendish', the cultivar 'Gros Michel', has already suffered this fate. The Cavendish banana is an extremely popular fruit in Europe and the Americas; unfortunately, like almost all bananas, it lacks genetic diversity which makes it vulnerable to diseases such as:

• Panama disease (Race 1) – fusarium wilt (a soil fungus). The fungus enters the plants through the roots and moves up with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums. These plug and cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt. Prior to 1960 almost all commercial banana production centered on the cultivar 'Gros Michel', which was highly susceptible to fusarium wilt. The cultivar 'Cavendish' was chosen as a replacement for 'Gros Michel' because out of the resistant cultivars it was viewed as producing the highest quality fruit. More care is required for shipping the Cavendish banana and some argue that the Gros Michel tasted better.

• Tropical Race 4 - a reinvigorated strain of Panama disease. A virulent form of fusarium wilt that has wiped out the Cavendish in several southeast Asian nations. It has yet to reach the Americas; however, soil fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools. This is how Race 4 has move from one plantation to another and it’s most likely route into Latin America. Unfortunately it is currently resistant to all known fungicides.

• Black Sigatoka - a fungal leaf spot disease first observed in Fiji in 1963 or 1964, Black Sigatoka (also known as Black Leaf Streak) has spread to banana plantations throughout the tropics due to infected banana leaves being used as packing material. It affects all of the main cultivars of bananas and plantains, impeding photosynthesis by turning parts of their leaves black, and eventually killing the entire leaf. Being starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow suffer premature ripening, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever increasing resistance to fungicidal treatment, with the current expense for treating 1 hectare exceeding US$1000 per year. In addition to the financial expense there is the question of how long such intensive spraying can be justified environmentally. Several resistant cultivars of banana have been developed, but none has yet received wide scale commercial acceptance due to taste and texture issues.

• Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) this virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids. It causes stunting of the leaves resulting in a "bunched" appearance. Generally, a banana plant infected with the virus will not set fruit, although mild strains exist in many areas which do allow for some fruit production. These mild strains are often mistaken for malnourishment, or a disease other than BBTV. There is no cure for BBTV, however its effect can be minimized by planting only tissue cultured plants (In-vitro propagation), controlling the aphids, and immediately removing and destroying any plant from the field that shows signs of the disease.

These four diseases represent the main threats to both commercial cultivation, and small-scale subsistence farming of bananas.

Even though it is no longer viable for large scale cultivation, the Gros Michel is not entirely extinct, as it is still grown in some areas where Panama Disease is not found. Likewise, the Cavendish is in no danger of complete extinction, but there is a possibility that it could leave the shelves of the supermarkets for good if disease winnows the harvest down to where it can no longer hope to supply the global market. It is unclear if any banana cultivar currently existing could replace the Cavendish on a scale needed to fill current demand, so various hybridization and genetic engineering programs are working on creating a disease-resistant, mass-market banana.

Banana trade

Bananas are among the most widely consumed foods in the world, and the only fruit to appear in the top ten biggest food crops. However, many banana farmers receive a low price for their produce. Large chain store retailers leverage their size to negotiate lower year round contract prices for bananas. Marketers of bananas thus have reduced their margins which in turn has led to more pressure to lower prices to growers. Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte grow their own bananas in Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. Banana plantations are capital intensive and demand high expertise so the majority of independent growers are large and wealthy landowners of these countries. This has led to bananas being available as a 'fair trade' item in some countries. The banana has an extensive trade history beginning with the founding of the United Fruit Company at the end of the nineteenth century. For much of the 20th century, bananas and coffee dominated the export economies of Central America. In the 1930s, bananas and coffee made up as much as 75 percent of the region's exports. As late as 1960, the two crops accounted for 67 percent of the exports from the region. Though the two were grown in similar regions, they tended not to be distributed together. The United Fruit Company based its business almost entirely on the banana trade, as the coffee trade proved too difficult for them to control. The term "banana republic" has been broadly applied to the countries in the region, but from a strict economic perspective only Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama were actual "banana republics" – countries with economies dominated by the banana trade.

(Source of statistics: Skidmore, T., Smith, P., (2001) Modern Latin America (5th edition). New York: Oxford University Press)

Attitudes toward bananas

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits among people of all origins. However, because of the stereotypical image of monkeys and apes eating bananas, they have been used as a means for racist insults, such as throwing bananas at sports players of African descent (e.g. [2]). Bananas are also humorously used as a phallic symbol (a metaphor for the human penis) due to similarities in size and shape.

In some parts of southeast Asia (e.g., Malaysia and Singapore), "banana" is a derogatory term for a person of Chinese descent who does not know much about Chinese culture and speaks English more fluently than Mandarin (or other Chinese dialects). This reference is due to the resemblance of character between the two objects: "yellow outside, white inside". (Compare this with the African-American slang term "Oreo".)

The depiction of a person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. A 1906 comedy record produced by Edison Records features a popular character of the time, "Cal Stewart" claiming to describe his own such incident, saying:

I don't think much of a man what throws a bananer peelin' on the sidewalk, and I don't think much of a bananer what throws a man on the sidewalk, neether. ... my foot hit that bananer peelin' and I went up in the air, and cum down ker-plunk, and fer about a minnit I seen all the stars what stronomy tells about, and some that haint been discovered yit. Wall jist as I wuz pickin' myself up a little boy cum runnin' cross the street and he sed 'Oh mister, won't you please do that agin, my mother didn't see you do it.'

Urban legends

In the 1940s and 1950s, an urban legend involved tarantulas hidden among bunches of bananas. While tarantulas do not hide in bananas, certain other large exotic spiders have been known to do so (see Brazilian wandering spider). These spiders are quite venomous and highly aggressive.

It is also an urban legend that the dried skin of banana fruit is hallucinogenic when smoked. Unlike many urban legends, the origin of this one has been traced. It dates back to an article in the student newspaper Berkeley Barb in March 1967, which got the story from the singer Country Joe McDonald. This was brought to attention once more in the late 1980s, when the satiric punk group The Dead Milkmen released a song concerning the effects of smoking banana peels. Even the FDA investigated.

As with the spider legend, this legend is also not entirely without merit. The darkening of ripening bananas, proceeding from yellow, to brown, to black, is mainly due to large amounts of serotonin (an important human neurotransmitter), which is produced from tryptophan in banana peels. While this property would seem to implicate bananas as a natural antidepressant, such is not the case.

Upon ingestion, serotonin is immediately broken down by enzymes in the stomach (particularly monoamine oxidase). Due to its high melting point (213° C), serotonin is unsuitable for smoking and decomposes into toxic gases (carbon and nitrogen oxides) during combustion. Additionally, it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.

Reference

• FAO. Bananas Commodity notes: Final results of the 2003 season, 2004
• Denham, T., Haberle, S. G., Lentfer, C., Fullagar, R., Field, J., Porch, N., Therin, M., Winsborough B., and Golson, J. (2003) Multi-disciplinary Evidence for the Origins of Agriculture from 6950-6440 Cal BP at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea. Science June Issue.

See also

• Banana messenger
• Banana Guard

External links

• Complete nutritional info.
• International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP)
• Banana by Julia Morton, Fruits of Warm Climates, pp. 29–46.
• Honduran Foundation of Agricultural Research - Bananas & Plantains
• Bananas could split for good
• Further details from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
• Plant pathologists unpeel rumors of banana extinction
• Banana Fruit Facts - California Rare Fruit Growers Organization.
• Tracing antiquity of banana cultivation in Papua New Guinea
• Banana and Plantain - Musa spp.
• Banana listing some of the common cultivars of California, U.S.bg:Банани

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