Description
Bananas are elliptically shaped
fruits "prepackaged" by Nature, featuring a firm, creamy flesh
gift-wrapped inside a thick inedible peel. The banana plant grows 10 to 26 feet
in height and belongs to the family Musaceae. Banana fruits grow in clusters of
50 to 150, with individual fruits grouped in bunches, known as
"hands," of 10 to 25 bananas.
Bananas abound in hundreds of edible
varieties that fall under two distinct species: the sweet banana (Musa
sapienta, Musa nana) and the plantain banana (Musa paradisiacal).
Sweet bananas vary in size and color.
While we are accustomed to thinking
of sweet bananas as having yellow skins, they can also feature red, pink,
purple and black tones when ripe. Their flavor and texture range with some
varieties being sweet while others have starchier characteristics. In the
United States, the most familiar varieties are Big Michael, Martinique and
Cavendish. Plantain bananas are usually cooked and considered more like a
vegetable due to their starchier qualities; they have a higher beta-carotene
concentration than most sweet bananas.
History
Bananas are thought to have
originated in Malaysia around 4,000 years ago. From there, they spread
throughout the Philippines and India, where in 327 B.C. Alexander the Great's
army recorded them being grown.
Bananas were introduced to Africa by
Arabian traders and discovered there in 1482 A.D. by Portuguese explorers who
took them to the Americas, the place where the majority of bananas are now
produced.
Bananas were not brought to the
United States for sale in markets until the latter part of the 19th century and
were initially only enjoyed by people in the seacoast towns where the banana
schooners docked; because of the fruit's fragility, they were unable to be
transported far.
Since the development of
refrigeration and rapid transport in the 20th century, bananas have become
widely available. Today, bananas grow in most tropical and subtropical regions
with the main commercial producers including Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador and
Brazil.
How
to Select and Store
Since bananas are picked off the
tree while they're still green, it's not unusual to see them this color in the
store. Base your choice of bananas depending upon when you want to consume
them. Bananas with more green coloration will take longer to ripen than those
more yellow in hue and/or with brown spots.
Bananas should be firm, but not too
hard, bright in appearance, and free from bruises or other injuries. Their
stems and tips should be intact. The size of the banana does not affect its
quality, so simply choose the size that best meets your needs.
While bananas look resilient,
they're actually very fragile and care should be taken in their storage. They
should be left to ripen at room temperature and should not be subjected to
overly hot or cold temperatures. Unripe bananas should not be placed in the
refrigerator as this will interrupt the ripening process to such an extent that
it will not be able to resume even if the bananas are returned to room
temperature.
If you need to hasten the ripening
process, you can place bananas in a paper bag or wrap them in newspaper, adding
an apple to accelerate the process. Ripe bananas that will not be consumed for
a few days can be placed in the refrigerator. While their peel may darken, the
flesh will not be affected. For maximum flavor when consuming refrigerated
bananas, remove them from the refrigerator and allow them to come back to room
temperature.
For the most antioxidants, eat fully
ripened fruit:
Research conducted at the University
of Innsbruck in Austria suggests that as fruits fully ripen, almost to the
point of spoilage, their antioxidant levels actually increase.
Key to the process is the change in
color that occurs as fruits ripen, a similar process to that seen in the fall
when leaves turn from green to red to yellow to brown— a color change caused by
the breakdown and disappearance of chlorophyll, which gives leaves and fruits
their green color.
Until now, no one really knew what
happened to chlorophyll during this process, but lead researcher, Bernard
Krutler, and his team, working together with botanists over the past several
years, has identified the first decomposition products in leaves: colorless,
polar NCCs (nonfluorescing chlorophyll catabolytes), that contain four pyrrole
rings - like chlorophyll and heme.
After examining apples and pears,
the scientists discovered that NCCs replace the chlorophyll not only in the
leaves of fruit trees, but in their very ripe fruits, especially in the peel
and flesh immediately below it.
"When chlorophyll is released
from its protein complexes in the decomposition process, it has a phototoxic
effect: when irradiated with light, it absorbs energy and can transfer it to
other substances. For example, it can transform oxygen into a highly reactive,
destructive form," report the researchers. However, NCCs have just the
opposite effect. Extremely powerful antioxidants, they play an important
protective role for the plant, and when consumed as part of the human diet,
NCCs deliver the same potent antioxidant protection within our bodies. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2007 Nov
19;46(45):8699-8702.
Bananas can also be frozen and will
keep for about 2 months. Either puree them before freezing or simply remove the
peel and wrap the bananas in plastic wrap. To prevent discoloration, add some
lemon juice before freezing.
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