Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.
Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. As the banana plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, they are often mistaken for trees, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem. For some species, this pseudostem can reach a height of up to 2–8 m, with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem can produce a bunch of green bananas, which when ripened often turn yellow or sometimes red. After bearing fruit, the pseudostem dies and is replaced by another.
The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand ), and 3–20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content. Each individual fruit (known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Western cultures generally eat the inside raw and throw away the skin while some Asian cultures generally eat both the skin and inside cooked. The fruit typically has numerous strings (called phloem bundles), which run between the skin and inner part. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety splits easily lengthwise into three strips. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B 6 , vitamin C, and potassium.
Bananas are grown in at least 107 countries. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Bananas may also be cut and dried and eaten as a type of chip. Dried bananas are also ground into banana flour.
Although the wild species have fruits with numerous large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have seedless fruits. Bananas are classified either as 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 all production is for export, with the United States and European Union being the dominant buyers.
Botany
Botanically, the bananas are placed in the genus Musa in the family Musaceae. The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998), assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales in the clade commelinids in the monocotyledonous flowering plants.
The banana plant is a pseudostem that grows to 6 to 7.6 metres (20 to 25 ft) tall, growing from a corm. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide. The banana plant is the largest of all herbaceous flowering plants. The large leaves grow whole, but are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.
A single, sterile, male banana flower, also known as the banana heart is normally produced by each stem (though on rare occasions more can be produced—a single plant in the Philippines has five). Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in Southeast Asia, steamed, in salads, or eaten raw. The female flowers are produced further up the stem and produce the actual fruit without requiring fertilization. The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". In cultivated varieties, the seeds have degenerated 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 their stiff stems and the positioning of the ovary and flower, bananas grow sticking up, not hanging down.
Some sources assert that the genus of the banana, Musa , is named for Antonio Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus. Others say that Linnaeus, who gave the genus its name in 1750, simply adapted an Arabic word for banana, mauz . The word banana itself comes from the Arabic word banan , which means "finger". The genus contains numerous species; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.
Properties
Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. Bananas can be eaten raw though some varieties are generally cooked first. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Unripe or green bananas and plantains are used as an ingredient in various dishes, such as in curries and stews, and are the staple starch of many tropical populations. Banana sap is extremely sticky and can be used as a practical adhesive. Sap can be obtained from the pseudostem, from the fruit peelings, or from the fruit flesh.
Most production for local sale is of green cooking bananas and plantains, as ripe dessert bananas are easily damaged while being transported to market. Even when transported only within their country of origin, ripe bananas suffer a high rate of damage and loss.
The commercial dessert cultivars most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa × paradisiaca , a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics. They are popular in part because, being a non-seasonal crop, they are available fresh year-round. In global commerce, by far the most important of these banana cultivars is 'Cavendish', which accounts for the vast bulk of bananas exported from the tropics. The Cavendish gained popularity in the 1950s after the previously mass produced cultivar, Gros Michel, became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, a fungus which attacks the roots of the banana plant.
The most important properties making 'Cavendish' the main export banana are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars rarely have a superior flavor compared to the less widespread cultivars. Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in ripening rooms when they arrive in their country of destination. These are special rooms made air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed", however, and may show up at the supermarket still fully green. While these bananas will ripen more slowly, the flavor will be notably richer, and the banana peel can be allowed to reach a yellow/brown speckled phase, and yet retain a firm flesh inside. Thus, shelf life is somewhat extended.
The vivid yellow color normally associated with supermarket bananas is in fact a side-effect of the artificial ripening process. Cavendish bananas that have been allowed to ripen naturally on the plant have a greenish-yellow appearance which changes to a brownish-yellow as they ripen further. Although both the flavor and texture of "tree ripened" bananas is generally regarded as superior to any type green-picked fruit, once natural ripening has commenced the shelf life is typically only 7–10 days, making commercial distribution impractical. For most people the only practical means of obtaining such fruit is growing it themselves, however this is also somewhat problematic, as the bananas all tend to ripen at once and have very poor keeping properties.
The flavor and texture of bananas are also affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 °C (56 and 59 °F) during transportation. At lower temperatures, the ripening of bananas permanently stalls, and the bananas will eventually turn gray as cell walls break down. The skins of ripe bananas will quickly turn black in the 4°C environment of a domestic refrigerator, although the fruit inside remains unaffected.
The banana flavor is due, amongst others, to isoamyl acetate which is one of the main constituents of banana oil.
It should be noted that 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.
The leaves of the banana plant are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are used many ways, including as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking or storage. Banana leaves are also used to serve food in India and other Asian countries.
Banana chips are a snack produced from dehydrated or fried banana or plantain slices, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Unlike other fruits, it is difficult to extract juice from bananas because when compressed a banana simply turns to pulp.
Seeded bananas ( Musa balbisiana ), the forerunner of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia.
In India, juice is extracted from the corm and used as a home remedy for the treatment of jaundice, sometimes with the addition of honey, and for kidney stones.
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