XLIV 
BANANAS ARE PICKED GREEN 
I SN’T IT ODD that bananas that ripen on the trees are 
not good! 
Most fruit is sweeter and better if it stays on the tree 
until it is dead ripe. But not the banana. It becomes flat 
in taste and of poor flavor. 
People who live in the tropics and have bananas grow¬ 
ing in their gardens do not let them ripen on the tree. 
They cut them when they are green and hang them up 
to mellow. 
It is a very fortunate thing that bananas need not 
ripen on the tree to be good. If they had to hang on the 
tree until they were ripe, they would not stand shipment. 
They would not last long enough to get to market with¬ 
out spoiling. 
Bananas are cut green. They are then hard and firm. 
The bunches can be piled one on top of another as high 
as a man’s head without being injured. This helps in 
getting them from the plantation to the banana ship and 
from the ship by rail to market everywhere. 
In the ship they can be kept cold by refrigeration to 
hold back their ripening. They must not be made too 
cold, however, or the flavor will be spoiled in that way. 
Finally, after they are in warehouses in the big cities, 
they are put into ripening rooms, where just the right 
amount of heat is let in to ripen them. 
Most of the bananas that come to market turn from 
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