and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— November, 1912. 



423 



MANUFACTURING BANANA FOOD 

 PRODUCTS IN JAMAICA. 



Considerable attention was aroused by reports 

 published during 1911 of the development of the 

 banana food product industry in Jamaica, West 

 Indies. A year ago there was but one factory 

 manufacturing the so-called "banana figs" of ex- 

 port while now there are six factories in active 

 operation with another in course of construc- 

 tion and two more companies have recently been 

 formed for the same purpose. United States 

 Consul J D Dreher of Port Antonio, Jamaica, 

 has the following to say about this new industry 

 which we reprint from the u Consular and Trade 

 Reports." 



The original factory, which has been opera- 

 ting about six years at Gayle, claims to have a 

 secret process for making banana figs. A large 

 factory at Montego Bay had its machinery 

 made after its own desigus in New York. Two 

 other companies expect to patent their machines 

 which have been locally designed and manufac- 

 tured. It is understood that the dry- 

 ing 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 manu- 

 facturers are using a variety of machines and 

 apparatus it is to be expected that the best pro- 

 cess 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 worms, as is the case also 

 with other dried fruits. 



The food products manufactured are fig bana- 

 nas 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 sweat and pala- 

 table, like pressed figs, which they also resemble 

 in colour. 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 out into 

 pieces " banana figs " and those treated 

 whole "fig bananas." What are known as "cook- 

 ing bananas " are so thoroughly dried as to be 

 hard, the colour of these being almost white. 

 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 into meal. Another company has its own 

 faotory 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 certi- 

 ficates of merit. 



It seemes that all banana food products are 

 wholesome and nutritious. The figs are deli- 

 cious and are likely to be preferred to real tigs 

 by many persons. The fig bauanas cut into 

 small pieces maybe used like raisins to impart 

 an additional flavour to cakes and puddings. 

 The chips after being well pounded or grounded 

 in a coffee 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 car- 

 bohydrates, are recommended for infants, in- 

 valids, 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 wholesome and nutri- 

 tious of fruits if eaten slowly when it is perfectly 

 ripe (that is, just before it decays), but not when 

 devoured only half ripe, as is often the case, 

 which causes many persons to regard bananas as 

 being difficult to digest. 



It seems only necessary to make the value of 

 banana food products known in order to create 

 a large market for them. Already they are 

 to a considerable extent popular in Germany 

 and Great Britaiu, which have been taking 

 the bulk of the exports of such products from 

 Jamaica. When bananas are selling at a low 

 price, as is usually the case in this colony during 

 the fall and winter, it is quite profitable to use 

 them for manufacturing purposes. As the world's 

 demand for these products increases it is to be 

 expected that bananas will be grown extensively 

 in districts too remote from shipping ports or 

 railroad facilities to make their exportation 

 practicable. In Jamaica several factories have 

 already been built in such districts. In banana- 

 producing countries far removed from large 

 markets, 1 ike the Society and the Samoan Islands 

 and other Island groups in the Pacific Ocean, 

 this fruit could be g-own at small expense for 

 manufacturing food products. Especially adapted 

 to such an undertaking is Tahiti, the principal 



