Musa paradisiaca
Musa sapientium
The banana is believed to be close to a million years old, and is native to tropical Asia. It can range in color from pink to yellow to purple-there are over 150 different varieties. Bananas are usually harvested when green, as they are more flavorful when allowed to ripen off the plant. The fruit is a distant relative of ginger, turmeric and cardamom. The banana plant is not a tree; it is a perennial herb, and can reach heights up to 40 feet. The trunk of the banana consists of overlapping leaves, wrapped tightly to make a rigid column. New leaves constantly sprout from the top, forming a crown of leaves which are blown into tattered strips-an evolutionary adaptation to lower their wind resistance, for the “trunk” is not as strong as a tree trunk, and risks being blown over. Each plant produces only one “hand” of bananas-then dies back and side shoots develop from the corm, which continue to grow and will produce bananas the following season.
The fruit is an exception to the rule that nearly all staple foods in the world are either cereals or root crops. Bananas are often the staple food of many tropical and subtropical regions-both the sweet desert fruit, and the starchier plantains. The banana and the plantain are very closely related, though plantains, or “cooking bananas”, are slightly richer in vitamins and milder than their sweet cousins.
Botanically, the fruit is a berry. It grows in tropical and subtropical climates. It requires considerable warmth, good drainage and lots of soil nutrients. The plant’s underground corm, shoots and buds are also regularly eaten. Its leaf stalk is utilized for roof thatching, clothing, cooking, plates, and weaving fibers.
The banana goes back thousands of years in recorded history. There are Assyrian carving representing bananas. The first European to encounter the fruit was Alexander the Great, who came across it in India in the 4th century BC. A few centuries later Pliny the Elder mentions the fruit, and refers to it as the “fruit of wise men”, perhaps a reference to the belief that it was the fruit from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Napoleon’s cook writes that his employer often enjoyed banana fritters sweetened with honey. The only European country which grows bananas commercially is Iceland, on soil heated by underground geysers. A Spanish missionary brought the plant from the Canary Islands to Central and South America in 1516, where it flourished. The word banana comes from the Guinean word “banema”.
Bananas used to be strictly a luxury item in this country, shipped in small quantities from Cuba on fast boats to the US-they were bred for taste-not for keeping qualities and were easily damaged. In the 1870’s huge banana plantations began to be established in Central America, along with the necessary railroad, shipping and telegraph infrastructures to support this system. The establishment of the United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita) in 1899 furthered the restructuring of Central American economies to depend heavily on the isolated cash crop; and thus began the establishment of “banana republics” a derogatory term used to identify societies ruled by US fruit companies. The banana is now ubiquitous in our culture-from gracing the covers of Velvet Underground records to sliced and floating like stranded astronauts in a lime Jell-O mold.
Banana plants are very heavy feeders, and plantations can devastate the soil if they are not sustainably managed, leaving fertile earth a barren wasteland Conventional farming methods often call for clearcutting the banana plants-a cause of serious erosion. Conventional banana production is also very chemically intensive and highly toxic to plantation workers. Donella Meadows, in an article for the Utne Reader, relates her experience on a commercial banana farm: “I have walked in a Central American banana plantation, where there was no visible living thing other than people and bananas. I was cautioned not to touch the plants, not to pick up fallen fruit, to wash myself and my clothes thoroughly upon leaving, because of powerful sprays that were used on a weekly basis.”
The varieties of bananas grown for commercial export are suitable for picking when only 2/3 ripe and they continue to ripen during shipment. The ripening process involves a chemical change in which starch is converted to sugars. As the fruit ripens it gives off ethylene gas. Most fruits do this, but the banana gives off an exceptionally large amount. A ripening banana placed in a lidded box can help to ripen a hard avocado or can turn a green tomato red. The banana is a good source of potassium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, riboflavin, magnesium and folic acid. When overripe they can also be used as a mild laxative. Always store bananas at room temperature-they are fragile and resent sudden changes in their environment or temperatures below 28°.
The Koran defines the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden as the banana. This belief is supported by the fruit's botanical name, Musa paradisiaca, or paradise food. Christian legend places the garden of paradise in the Fertile Crescent, an area which is much more suitable to banana cultivation than that of the apple. Islamic legend alleges that Adam and Eve, after their fall from god's good graces, covered their "sinful" naked genitals with banana leaves, which would prove much more effective for the job than a miniscule fig leaf, as banana leaves are several feet long.
