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its own designs in New York. Two other companies expect to 

 patent their machines, which have been locally designed and man- 

 ufactured. It is understood that the drying is done by hot air 

 and that it takes 400 to 500 pounds of fruit to make 100 pounds 

 of the figs. For a good many years experiments have been made 

 in drying" bananas, but it has been difficult to find a process for 

 making a product that would keep well. Now that manufac- 

 turers are using a variety of machines and apparatus it is to be 

 expected that the best process will soon be known. Although 

 worms are never found in ripe bananas, the preserved fruit, if 

 left exposed, attracts insects and soon becomes infested with 

 small w'orms, as is the case also with other dried fruits. 



''The food products manufactured are fig bananas or banana 

 figs, cooking bananas, banana chips, flour, and meal. All the 

 factories dry or evaporate the bananas whole without the addi- 

 tion of sugar, and yet they are sweet and palatable, like pressed 

 figs, wdiich they also resemble in color. At least one factory cuts 

 the bananas into short pieces before drying or evaporating them, 

 thus making a product that looks much like the dried figs of 

 commerce. It seems that it would be well in order to make a 

 distinction to call the bananas cut into pieces 'banana figs' and 

 those treated whole 'fig bananas.' What are known as 'cooking 

 bananas' are so thoroughly dried as to be hard, the color of these 

 being almost wdiite. Broken into pieces they form 'banana chips,' 

 which not meeting with duties are imported to be ground into 

 meal or flour in the country of consumption. In spite of the fact 

 that the meal is said not to keep well, one Jamaica factory uses 

 an American gristmill for grinding the chips. Another company 

 has its own factory in London, to which it exports the chips to be 

 ground into flour and meal and made into other preparations for 

 market. A small booklet is issued there to set forth the dietetic 

 value of banana foods as attested by British and German food 

 experts and others ; and there is added a list of products on sale, 

 with recipes for their use, etc. These banana food products have 

 been awarded many prizes, diplomas, and certificates of merit. 



'Tt seems that all banana food products are wholesome and nu- 

 tritious. The figs are delicious and are likely to be preferred to 

 real figs by many persons. The fig bananas cut into small pieces 

 may be used like raisins to impart an additional flavor to cakes 

 and puddings. The chips, after being well pounded or ground 

 in a cofifee or other hand mill, may be boiled and then used as an 

 excellent breakfast food or for making delicious puddings. Gruel, 

 porridge, and other preparations made from banana flour and 

 meal, which are rich in easily soluble carbohydrates, are recom- 

 mended for infants, invalids, and dyspeptics. The negro women 

 of Jamaica use banana meal gruel as a substitute for milk for 

 their infant children. The banana itself is one of the most whole- 

 some and nutritious of fruits if eaten slowly when it is perfectly 

 ripe (that is, just before it decavs), but not when devoured only 



