74 



English taste. The dried banana is no novelty to us, as for several 

 years past West India merchants have endeavoured to introduce it to 

 the London market, but with doubtful success, as in no instance have 

 we heard of their being imported by the same firm a second time." 

 Messrs. Mart & Co., of Oxford Street, gave a somewhat similar 

 opinion : " the samples are very good, but we do not think any large or 

 even moderate trade would be done in them . . . about 25 years 

 since some preserved spiced bananas, in sealed tins, were sent to us 

 from Jamaica, and again some dried ones were sent from Ratatonga ; 

 these were quite black. On another occasion some arrived in London, 

 wrapped in Indian corn leaves ; they were in neat parcels of about 

 1^ pounds weight each, but much darker than the present samples." 



Again in 1888 a very attractive sample of preserved bananas was 

 received at Kew from Mr. W. Fawcett, F.L.S., Director of the 

 Botanical Department, Jamaica. In this sample the fruit was preserved 

 whole, it was of good colour, and put up in a neat small box, exactly 

 like the best qualities of figs. The report in this instance was, how- 

 ever, not very encouraging. In GalVs Weekly News Letter of 

 August 9, 1890, the subject of exporting preserved bananas from 

 Jamaica is revived. The new process of drying the surplus bananas, 

 it says, " opens up a vista of future prosperity, and presents a pleasing 

 picture of agricultural welfare before our eyes. Samples of dried 

 bananas were submitted to the Royal Agricultural Society, and other 

 samples have been sent to prominent fruit importers in England 

 and Scotland, and the reports have been of an exceedingly satisfactory 

 character." 



One correspondent wrote : — " I submitted the sample to Mr. Jamie- 

 son, one of the largest fruit importers in Edinburgh. By a strange 

 coincidence he had been shown a sample of the same article from 

 Madeira on the previous day. The sample he thought a little better 

 than yours, not being so highly dried, and retaining more of the real 

 flavour of the fresh fruit. He is of opinion that if the drying process 

 could be brought to greater perfection, and as much as possible of 

 the fruity flavour preserved, they would take the place of every other 

 dried fruit, and there would be a large demand for them. He says 

 people are getting tired of figs, dates, &c, and would eagerly turn to 

 bananas for a change." 



In Venezuela the best banana for preserving is the cambur moraclo 

 or red banana, because, says Diaz, "it is larger and it has a better 

 flavour." In the dry climate of the lower hills the process can be 

 successfully carried on by simple exposure to the sun. The bananas 

 must be quite ripe, they are stripped of shell and fibre and placed on a 

 cloth in the sun, being turned every two hours without crushing them 

 like the plantain ; at night they are gathered in and the next day 

 put out again, and so on until they are perfectly preserved. " If they 

 have five or six sunny days in succession they are good in that time." 



It would appear that the United States and Canada are likely to 

 afford as favourable a market for preserved bananas as for the fresh 

 fruit. Most of the preserved bananas hitherto prepared in the West 

 Indies have gone to other countries. As showing the result of an 

 interesting experiment tried with preserved bananas in Trinidad 

 the following account of fruit, shipped to Canada, is taken from the 

 Agricultural Record of Trinidad, 1891, pp. 143-144. 



