benefits of bananas

Banana peels, like the fruit itself, are rich in potassium

With their high content of potassium and phosphorus, whole bananas and peels are welcome additions to any compost pile

Bring more butterflies and various bird species to your backyard by putting out overripe bananas (as well as other fruits such as mangos, oranges, and papayas) on a raised platform. Punch a few holes in the bananas to make the fruit more accessible to the butterflies.

Bananas and plantains, based on their intended use as food. Thus the banana producer and distributor Chiquita produces publicity material for the American market which says that a plantain is not a banana. The stated differences are that plantains are more starchy and less sweet; they are eaten cooked rather than raw; they have thicker skin, which may be green, yellow or black; and they can be used at any stage of ripeness.

Export bananas are picked green, and ripen in special rooms upon arrival in the destination country. These rooms are airtight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. The vivid yellow color consumers normally associate with supermarket bananas is, in fact, caused by the artificial ripening process. Flavor and texture are also affected by ripening temperature. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15

Bananas must be transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets. To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before the fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3

Statistics on the production and export of bananas and plantains are available from the Food and Agriculture Organization. Some countries produce statistics which distinguish between bananas and plantains, but three of the top four producers (India, China and the Philippines) do not, so comparisons can only be made using the total for bananas and plantains combined.

Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, either raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups, curries and fried foods. The flavor resembles that of artichoke. As with artichokes, both the fleshy part of the bracts and the heart are edible.

Banana leaves are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as plates in South Asia and several Southeast Asian countries. In Indonesian cuisine, banana leaf is employed in cooking method called pepes and botok; the banana leaf packages containing food ingredients and spices are cooked on steam, in boiled water or grilled on charcoal. In the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in every occasion the food must be served in a banana leaf and as a part of the food a banana is served. Steamed with dishes they impart a subtle sweet flavor. They often serve as a wrapping for grilling food. The leaves contain the juices, protect food from burning and add a subtle flavor.

The banana plant has long been a source of fiber for high quality textiles. In Japan, banana cultivation for clothing and household use dates back to at least the 13th century. In the Japanese system, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. Harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare fibers for yarnmaking. These banana shoots produce fibers of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses.