112 THE BANANA 



heat, a process which may be hastened or delayed to some 

 extent according to the demands of retail trade. The 

 green banana contains, after removal of the skin, about 

 1*5 per cent, of protein, and 20 to 25 per cent, of carbo- 

 hydrate, which is almost entirely starch. In the ripe 

 banana, the ripeness of which is evidenced by the yellow- 

 brown peel, there is from 16 to 19 per cent, of carbohydrate, 

 almost entirely in the form of sugars, and the remainder 

 of the edible pulp is mostly water. Bananas are usually 

 eaten uncooked, and the ingestion of the amount of raw 

 starch contained in the unripe fruit or the fruit which is 

 not completely ripened is often the cause of irritation in 

 the alimentary tract. Yet many people eat the partially 

 ripened fruit and decline the ripe fruit with the brown skin 

 on the supposition that it is rotten. Another point which 

 has contributed to the reputation of the banana is that, 

 owing to its shape, there is not the necessity for that 

 efficient comminution which is desirable, and this has led 

 to the food being often gulped down in a manner prejudicial 

 to digestion." Dr. Tibbies, in " Food and Hygiene," says : 

 " Raw fruit is very wholesome, and is especially beneficial 

 to those who dwell in towns, but is not so easy to digest as 

 cooked fruit." 



Cooking Bananas. There are many methods, as Dampier 

 has told us, of preparing the banana as food besides the 

 usual way of eating it as a ripe fruit. It may be interesting 

 to note also those mentioned by Pere Labat as in use in 

 the French West Indies two hundred years ago : 



" Bananas may be roasted on the grill, then the skin is 

 removed and they are eaten with sugar and the juice of an 

 orange. Or they may be cooked in a stew-pan like pears 

 with wine, sugar, cinnamon and cloves, when they assume 

 a beautiful red colour and have a delightful and delicate 

 taste and smell, very good pour la poitrine and very 

 nourishing ; they are cut in two according to their length. 

 Sometimes they are cut into thin slices, dipped into a ready 

 prepared batter, and fried as fritters." Messrs. Elders and 

 Fyflfes (Bow Street, Covent Garden, London) have pub- 



