Banana Research

Funny youtube banana videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wa95CvhESQ

General list of benefits from various websites:

Fights depression (makes up all the proteins that the body converts to serotonin), contains vitamin B6 which can be good for pms moods, high in iron so it helps anemia cases, high in potassium but low in salt so great for moderating blood pressure, potassium can help keep alert aiding learning, fiber is good for relieving constipation, banana milkshake with honey great for hangovers, natural antacid for hearburn, banana skin can be effective for soothing mosquito bits, good for moderating body weight (ie. Substituting candy), only fruit that can be eaten in over-chronic ulcer cases, contains tryptophan which helps Seasonal Affective Disorder suffers, B6 B12 potassium and magnesium can help smokers recover from nicotine withdrawal… etc!


From Wikipedia:

Banana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia. Bananas are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea.[1] Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.[2]

Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. As the bananas are mainly tall, upright, and fairly sturdy, they are often mistaken for trees, when the truth is the main or upright stem is called a pseudostem, literally meaning "fake stem", which for some species can obtain a height of up to 2–8 m, with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem can produce a bunch of yellow, green, or even red bananas before dying and being replaced by another pseudostem.

The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand), and 3-20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content. Each individual fruit (known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Western cultures generally eat the inside raw and throw away the skin while some Asian cultures generally eat both the skin and inside cooked. Typically, the fruit has numerous strings (called 'phloem bundles') which run between the skin and inner part. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium.

Bananas are grown in at least 107 countries.[3] In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Bananas may also be cut and dried and eaten as a type of chip. Dried bananas are also ground into banana flour.

Although the wild species have fruits with numerous large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have seedless fruits. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas. Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10-15% of all production is for export, with the United States and European Union being the dominant buyers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana


A selection of interesting information: - the common edible banana (Cavendish) could go extinct due to large mono-cultures colliding with disease, it's happened before with the predecessor Gros Michel
- Fibre uses: parts of the plant used for clothing and household use in Japan (ie. kimono). In Nepal, the truck is used to make rug fibres.
- Fibre use: paper can be made from the bark of the plant or from the stem
- careful refrigeration and transport suppress banana spoilage.
- can be indefinitely frozen and eaten like a popsicle or eaten as a banana mush

Usage in Culture
- banana peel slipping humour
- song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" very popular
- humorous phallic symbol due to similarities in size and shape (ie. Velvet Underground cover)
- sauce, cream pie, ketchup, pudding...