BANANA 568 



turn upward. From 50 to 150 bananas, weigh- 

 ing altogether from 40 to 100 pounds, may 

 grow in a bunch, and their lower ends point 

 upward. A bunch of bananas as displayed in 

 a store is hung bottom side up. 



The Banana Industry. The banana thrives in 

 a hot, moist climate, and is raised in the tropical 

 regions of both the Eastern and the Western 

 hemispheres. In the Americas it grows on most 

 of the West India islands and along the coasts 

 of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, 

 from Vera Cruz to the mouths of the Amazon 

 River. California, Florida and Louisiana pro- 

 duce a small crop. The greatest banana sec- 

 tion in the world is in Central America, 

 although there are single groves in Colombia 

 containing 100,000 acres. 



Bananas are imported in great quantities by 

 the countries of Europe and temperate North 

 America. The people of the United States and 

 Canada alone consume about 50,000,000 bunches 

 of the fruit a year, but the development of the 

 American industry is comparatively of recent 

 date. In the year 1866 a small cargo of bana- 

 nas, raised on plantations in Northwestern 

 Colombia, near the present Panama Canal 

 Zone, was delivered at the port of New York. 

 This was the beginning of the banana industry 

 in the United States and Canada. In the early 

 days of the industry the individual fruits sold 

 for about ten cents each, or fifty cents per 

 half dozen. It is a remarkable fact that the 

 banana has maintained its present reasonable 

 price of from ten to twenty-five cents per dozen 

 throughout the era of high food values. It is 

 one of the few commodities in common use for 

 which the consumer has not had to pay double 

 ami treble the price demanded a few years ago. 

 This is due to the scientific methods of pro- 

 duction and marketing adopted by the com- 

 which handle the trade. Bananas from 

 the American tropics have been imported into 

 Great Britain and the continental European 

 countries since 1903. 



Uses. For the most part the fruit is the 

 only portion of the banana plant used, and the 

 leaves and stalks, which must be cut down after 

 the fruit has matured, are thrown away. Some 

 species, however, produce a useful fiber, and 

 the leaves of certain kinds are used for roofing 

 houses and to make mats, bags and baskets. 

 Dwarf varieties of the plant are sometimes 

 raised for ornamental purposes. 



Food Value. The uncooked banana is most 

 wholesome and nutritious when the peel is of a 

 yellow-brown color. The fruit is brought to 



BANANA 



Northern markets green and is ripened arti- 

 ficially. An unripe banana contains a large 

 proportion of starch, which changes into sugar 

 in the process of ripening. An uncooked gr> 

 banana is as Jiard to digest as a raw potato. 

 When cooked, however, the fruit becomes read- 

 ily digestible, and many delicious dishes are 

 prepared by the natives in banana count i 

 by baking the green fruit in hot ashes. In 

 countries which depend upon importations 

 cooked bananas are also finding favor ; they are 

 fried, made into' croquettes or fritters, cooked 

 with ham or bacon, and prepared in other ways. 

 For cooking purposes it is always preferable to 

 use unripened fruit. Banana flour, which is a 

 common article of diet in the tropics, is coming 

 elsewhere into use. It is made by grinding the 

 dried, unripened fruit. It has been estimated' 

 that one pound of banana flour is equal in 

 nourishment to two pounds of wheat flour, and 

 it has been found of special value as an ingre- 

 dient of milk mixtures for infants. / 



Carbohydrate s,2 2.0 



Proiein,l.3 



FOOD VALUE 



Three-fourths of the edible part of the banana 

 is water. 



The banana is the only sweet fruit which can 

 be obtained fresh and in a good condition in all 

 parts of a country and at all seasons. It has 

 the further advantage of being put up by 

 Nature in a germ-proof package, for its inedible 

 peel constitutes an air-tight protection against 

 every form of germ or dirt. The following fig- 

 ures show the average composition of the fruit : 

 water, 75.3 per cent; protein, 1.3; fat, .6; car- 

 bohydrates (starch and sugar), 22; ash, .8. Its 

 water content is lower than that of apples and 

 oranges, but it is superior to either of these 

 fruits in actual nutritive value. Its energy 

 value is 460 calories per pound (see CALORIE; 

 FOOD, subhead Chemistry of), as compared with 

 465 calories for green peas. In the words of a 

 leading medical authority, the banana is a 

 "fruit-food, containing in an agreeable form all 

 of the elements of nutrition." B.M.W. 



