BANANA. 77 
For baked Bananas, “ take the fruit just after the rind has begun 
to grow golden; cut off each end of the pod, leaving on the 
jacket, after having first washed the Banana. Bake the desired 
number of them thus for twenty or thirty minutes in the oven, 
and serve them then in their jackets; to be split lengthways, 
and buttered when eaten” (Broadbent). 
The fresh Banana contains 26 per cent of fattening, warming 
sustenance (carbohydrates), with an appreciable quantity of 
building-up material (proteid). If dried in the sun, and well 
sprinkled with sugar, Bananas c.n compare favourably in 
nutritive value with dried figs. Being ground into a flour, 
Bananas will serve for making a bread, which is light, and easy 
of digestion. In America the fruit, whilst unripe, is dried in the 
oven, and then eaten as bread, which may be kept in this condition 
for a long time. It has been asserted that the Banana, when 
largely consumed as food, produces decay of the teeth, this state- 
ment being made because the Brazilians, who live chiefly on 
Bananas, have, as a rule, shockingly bad teeth ; but it should be 
remembered that their men, women, and children devour sugar 
also to a very unwholesome extent in the shape of sweetmeats, 
and confectionery of all sorts; moreover, they indulge largely in 
hot infusions of native tea. Already some twelve millions of 
Banana bunches have been exported from Jamaica alone into 
this country. The iruit is twenty-five times more nutritious 
by its starchy constituents than good white bread. A bunch 
of Bananas weighing fifteen pounds will yield three pounds of 
the flour. As the Bananas ripen, their starch becomes converted 
into sugar. Their pulp contains grape sugar, cane sugar, nitro- 
genous matter, celiulose, and fat, with phosphoric elements, 
lime, earthy salts, and some iron. : 
To prepare a compdéte of Bananas: Having peeled the fruit 
when dead ripe—but not speck beyond this,—and having 
removed any coarse threads, plunge the Bananas into boiling 
water for a few seconds, and then at once drain them. Put the 
fruit into a basin, and coat it with boiling syrup (adding, it may 
be, half a glass of Maraschino to the pint). When cold, dish in 
a pyramid, with the syrup over. For “creamed Bananas, 
mash them with a fork, and place this in a small saucepan ; 
cover with a little hot milk, and add sugar, if desired ; 
then pour it over toast. Excellent Banana sandwiches are to 
be made, the merest dash of honey being substituted for sugar. 
