Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. Bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains.

They are native to tropical Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea.¹ Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.² They are grown in at least 107 countries,³ primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber and as ornamental plants.

Although fruit of wild species have large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have only tiny seeds. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas.

Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10–15% of production is for export. The United States and European Union are the dominant importers.

Botany

The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.⁴. Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy and are often mistaken for trees, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem that grows 6 to 7.6 metres (20 to 25 ft) tall, growing from a corm. Each pseudostem can produce a single bunch of bananas. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies.

Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.⁵ They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.⁶

Banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand). The assemblage of hanging clusters is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers tiers, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb). In common usage, bunch applies to part of a tier containing 3-10 adjacent fruits. Individual fruits average 125 grams (0.28 lb), of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter. Each individual fruit (commonly known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with an edible inner portion. The fruit typically has numerous long, thin strings (called phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and inner part. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety splits easily lengthwise into three strips.

Each stem normally produces a single, sterile, male banana flower, also known as the banana heart—though more can be produced; a single plant in the Philippines has five.⁷

Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in Southeast Asia, steamed, in salads, or eaten raw.⁸ The female flowers apppear further up the stem, and produce the actual fruit without fertilization. The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry".⁹ In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. The ovary is inferior to the flower; because of stiff stems and the positioning of the ovary and flower, bananas grow pointing up, not hanging down.

Taxonomy

The genus Musa is in the family Musaceae. The [[APG II system]], of 2003 (unchanged from 1998), assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales in the clade commelinids in the monocotyledonous flowering plants. Some sources assert that the banana's genus, Musa, is named for Antonio Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus.¹⁰ Others say that Linnaeus, who named the genus in 1750, simply adapted an Arabic word for banana, mauz.¹¹ The word banana itself comes from the Arabic banan, which means "finger".¹¹ The genus contains many species; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.¹²

Musa × paradisiaca is also the generic name for the common plantain, a coarser and starchier variant not to be confused with Musa acuminata or the Cavendish variety.

Most production for local sale is of green cooking bananas and plantains, because ripe dessert bananas are easily damaged in transport. Ripe bananas suffer a high rate of damage and loss, even when moving only a short distance.

The commercial dessert cultivars most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa × paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported from the tropics.

Food and cooking

The fruit

Bananas are the staple starch of many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Bananas' flavor is due, amongst other chemicals, to isoamyl acetate which is one of the main constituents of banana oil.

Bananas are eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Bananas can be made into jam. Banana pancakes are popular amongst backpackers and other travelers in South Asia and Southeast Asia. This has elicited the expression Banana Pancake Trail for those places in Asia that cater to this group of travelers. Banana chips are a snack produced from sliced dehydrated or fried banana or plantain, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Dried bananas are also ground to make banana flour. Extracting juice is difficult because when a banana compressed simply turns to pulp. Bananas fried with batter is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. A similar dish is known in the United States as banana fritters.

Plantains are used in various stews and curries or cooked, baked or mashed in much the same way as potatoes.

Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana), the forerunner of the common domesticated banana,¹³ are sold in markets in Indonesia.

The flower

The flower of the banana plant (also known as banana blossom or banana heart)^{citation needed} is used in Southeast Asian, Telugu, Tamil, and Bengali, either raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The flower's flavor resembles that of artichoke's. As with artichokes, both the the fleshy part of the petals and the heart are edible.

The trunk

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.

The leaves

Banana leaves are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as "plates" in South Asia and several Southeast Asian countries.

Steamed with dishes they impart a subtle sweet flavor. They often serve as a wrapping for grilling food. The leaves contain the juices, protects food from burning and adds a subtle flavor.¹⁴

Health benefits

Bananas contain considerable amounts of vitamin B₆, vitamin C, and potassium. The latter makes them of particular interest to athletes who use them to quickly replenish their electrolytes.

Fibre

Textiles

The banana plant has long been a source of fiber for high quality textiles. In Japan, banana cultivation for clothing and household use dates back to at least the 13th century. In the Japanese system, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. Harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare fibers for yarn-making. These banana shoots produce fibers of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses. For example, the outermost fibers of the shoots are the coarsest, and are suitable for tablecloths, while the softest innermost fibres are desirable for kimono and kamishimo. This traditional Japanese cloth-making process requires many steps, all performed by hand.¹⁹

In a Nepalese system the trunk is harvested instead, and small pieces are subjected to a softening process, mechanical fiber extraction, bleaching and drying. After that, the fibers are sent to the Kathmandu Valley for use in rugs with a silk-like texture. These banana fiber rugs are woven by traditional Nepalese hand-knotting methods, and are sold RugMark certified.

Paper

Banana fiber is used in the production of banana paper. Banana paper is used in two different senses: to refer to a paper made from the bark of the banana plant, mainly used for artistic purposes, or paper made from banana fiber, obtained with an industrialized process from the stem and the non-usable fruits. The paper itself can be either hand-made or in industrial processes.

Cultural roles

Arts

Symbols

Bananas are also humorously used as a phallic symbol due to similarities in size and shape. This is typified by the artwork of the debut album of The Velvet Underground, which features a banana on the front cover, yet on the original LP version, the design allowed the listener to 'peel' this banana to find a pink phallus on the inside.

Religion

In Burma, bunches of green bananas surrounding a green coconut in a tray form an important part of traditional offerings to the Buddha and the Nats.

Evolution/Creation Debate

The banana has been used as an argument for creationism. Allegedly, it is carefully designed for human grasp and convenience by God. However, the influence that humans have had on its development rebuts this argument. Further, early farmers selected bananas among many alternatives to harvest, and thus would be biased toward a fruit that is acceptable to humans.²¹

East Africa

Most farms supply local consumption. Cooking bananas represent a major food source and a major income source for smallhold farmers. In East African highlands bananas are of greatest importance as a staple food crop. In countries such as Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda per capita consumption has been estimated at 45 kilograms (99 lb) per year, the highest in the world. Ugandans use a single word, matooke, to describe both bananas and food.

Peels

The depiction of a person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. An 1898 comedy recording features a popular character of the time, "Cal Stewart", claiming to describe his own such incident, saying:²²

Other uses

Banana sap is extremely sticky and can be used as a practical adhesive. Sap can be obtained from the pseudostem, from the peelings, or from the flesh.

History

Early cultivation

Southeast Asian farmers first domesticated bananas. 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 BCE, and possibly to 8000 BCE.¹ It is likely that other species were later and independently domesticated elsewhere in southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation in the region.

Phytolith discoveries in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE²⁴ triggered an as yet unresolved debate about the date of first cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were known in Madagascar around that time.²⁵ The earliest prior evidence indicates that cultivation dates to no earlier than late 6th century AD.²⁶ Some commentators remarked that those variants which could replace what much of the world considers a "typical banana" are so different that most people would not consider them the same fruit, and blame the decline of the banana on monogenetic cultivation driven by short-term commercial motives.²⁷

Panama Disease

(Race 1): fusarium wilt (a soil fungus). The Panama Disease fungus enters the plants through the roots and travels with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums that cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt. Prior to 1960 almost all commercial banana production centered on 'Gros Michel', which was highly susceptible, and exposed the rest of the plant to lethal amounts of sunlight.²⁸ Cavendish was chosen as the replacement for Gros Michel because among resistant cultivars, it produces the highest quality fruit. However, more care is required for shipping the Cavendish, and its quality compared to Gros Michel is debated.

According to current sources, a deadly form of Panama disease is infecting Cavendish. All plants are genetically identical, which prevents evolution of disease resistance. Researchers are examining hundreds of wild varieties for resistance.²⁸

Tropical Race 4

TR4 is a reinvigorated strain of Panama disease first discovered in 1993. This virulent form of fusarium wilt has wiped out Cavendish in several southeast Asian countries. It has yet to reach the Americas; however, soil fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools. This is how Tropical Race 4 travels and is its most likely route into Latin America. Cavendish is highly susceptible to TR4, and over time, Cavendish is almost certain to disappear from commercial production by this disease. Unfortunately, the only known defense to TR4 is genetic resistance.

Black Sigatoka

Black Sigatoka is 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 from infected banana leaves that were used as packing material. It affects all main cultivars of bananas and plantains, impeding photosynthesis by blackening parts of the leaves, eventually killing the entire leaf. Starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow ripen prematurely, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever-increasing resistance to treatment, with the current expense for treating 1 hectare (2.5 acres) exceeding $1,000 per year. In addition to the expense there is the question of how long intensive spraying can be environmentally justified. Several resistant cultivars of banana have been developed, but none has yet received commercial acceptance due to taste and texture issues.

In East Africa

However, with the arrival of Black sigatoka, banana production in eastern Africa fell by over 40%. For example, during the 1970s, Uganda produced 15 to 20 tonnes (15 to 20 LT; 17 to 22 ST) of bananas per hectare. Today, production has fallen to only 6 tonnes (5.9 LT; 6.6 ST)per hectare.

The situation has started to improve as new disease-resistant cultivars have been developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and NARO such as FHIA-17 (known in Uganda as the Kabana 3). These new cultivars taste different from the Cabana banana, which has slowed their acceptance by local farmers. However, by adding mulch and manure to the soil around the base of the plant, these new cultivars have substantially increased yields in the areas where they have been tried.

Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV)

This virus jumps from plant to plant using aphids. It stunts leaves, resulting in a "bunched" appearance. Generally, an infected plant does not produce fruit, although mild strains exist which allow some production. These mild strains are often mistaken for malnourishment, or a disease other than BBTV. There is no cure, however its effect can be minimized by planting only tissue-cultured plants (in-vitro propagation), controlling aphids, and immediately removing and destroying infected plants.

Gallery

Contents