90 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



it is necessary to wrap the bunches in banana leaves or other 

 suitable material in order to prevent the individual bananas 

 from becoming broken off. 



The banana is, without comparison, the most important tropi- 

 cal fruit. It may be had every day of the year. The great 

 importance of the banana is not fully indicated by the commer- 

 cial trade in this fruit. It should be remembered that nearly 

 every inhabitant of the Tropics outside of the large cities has 

 a few banana plants in his garden from which fruit is obtained 

 for table use. Millions of tropical inhabitants depend upon the 

 banana as one of the staple food products. The chemical com- 

 position of the banana shows that this fruit contains I to ij^ 

 per cent, of protein and 14 to 26 per cent, of starch. Many 

 persons have found that they can not eat bananas without some 

 distress. This digestive disturbance is apparently due to the 

 large amount of starch in the banana in all stages until it is 

 fully ripe or overripe. In the ripening of the banana prac- 

 tically all of the starch, which constitutes on an average about 

 15 per cent, by weight of the fresh banana, is changed into 

 sugar. The banana is therefore most digestible when fully 

 ripe. The transformation of the starch into sugar is not com- 

 pleted until the final stages of ripening. It should always be 

 remembered that the skin of the banana is sufficiently thick and 

 tough to protect the edible pulp against dirt or contamination 

 so long as no injury has occurred to the skin. Bananas are 

 therefore a safe and palatable food product, even after the skin 

 has turned black, provided the skin has not been broken. In 

 the final stages of ripening the pulp becomes a soft straw-col- 

 ored jelly. The softening indicates the complete transforma- 

 tion of the starch into sugar. In this fully ripe or overripe 

 condition many persons who otherwise would have to abstain 

 from the use of bananas have found that they may eat them 

 without the occurrence of digestive disturbances. 



One often hears the expression of a desire to pick bananas 

 fully ripened on the plant and to enjoy the superior flavor 



