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Bananas information

Bananas are delicious fruits that provide us with the essential nutrients that we need including the 8 amino acids that our body needs to get from outside sources as it can not produce it on its own. Bananas contain more starch than sugar and if you’re conscious about your weight, you wouldn’t want to eat a whole cluster of bananas. As the banana ripens, the calorie value decreases as the starch is substituted into sugar. Bananas may not be the best fruit alternative for a full meal when dieting, but this sumptuous treat is a great substitute for dessert. Just freeze a ripe banana and eat it when it's still cold. It's a delicious treat that you simply cannot resist.

Bananas are the most well-known tropical fruit that are eaten daily in all countries. Bananas come in different sizes and colors but most distinctively, when you say banana, people would always recall the normal yellow bananas that are about 15 to 30 centimeters in length. But the term "banana" refers to 5 different types of this succulent fruit.

The 5 types of bananas are:

1. Fruit-bananas: This is the most common type of bananas that people often recall whenever they think of bananas. They are yellow in color and are 15 to 30 centimeters long.

2. Red bananas: They contain more carotene than the yellow variants. When unripe, its skin is green and it gets redder as it ripens. Aside from its color and pinkish flesh, it tastes just the same as the yellow bananas.

3. Apple-bananas: They are smaller than the fruit-bananas and measures about 8 to 10 centimeters long and they ripen much quicker.

4. Baby-bananas: These are the sweetest of the bananas and they measure only between 6 to 8 centimeters. They may be small, but those who have tasted it loves it the best.

5. Plantains: These are the variants that are used for cooking. They can be eaten raw too but they are meant to be cooked as its flavor is emphasized when it is cooked.

The banana plant are often mistakenly called as banana "tree" when in fact, it's a large herb with "pseudostems" as they are called because they look like stems but they're really cylindrical leaf sheaths that are formed from the fleshy corm of the plant. The banana plant in itself has many uses. In some countries, the flesh of the pseudostems are used to feed the pigs and are believed to keep the pigs healthier and lesser prone to liver as well as kidney parasites. The banana leaves are used as plates in some countries and even by the armed forces that have to learn to survive in the jungle. The banana's flower, otherwise known as banana's heart, is also cooked into native dishes. This banana's flower is where the bananas are formed and the outer skin of the flower covers the young, unripe bananas that are waiting for their time to blossom. As the young bananas are developing from these flowers, you would find a bunch of small, green and slender fruits that look like fingers. The bracts are slowly dropping off while the fruits are growing and as the clusters of bananas are growing, they would begin to fall upside down thus you see the bananas are upside down during the time of harvest.

Bananas are harvested not when they are already ripe. It is believed that bananas that are already ripe when picked have lesser sweetness compared to the bananas that ripens in a controlled environment after they had been picked. Some vendors treat the bananas with ethylene gas as it speeds up the ripening process.

Aside from the relative difference of sweetness from ripely picked to artificial ripening, the market can not instantly sell all the bananas as they come in straight from harvest. It will only result to lesser revenue as more bananas end up being hogwash. Through artificial ripening, the market can sell more bananas as they ripen after some days depending on the choice of the vendors.

As a consumer who wishes to buy some bananas, it is best to purchase the bananas when they are still not ripe enough to eat. This will give you more time to consume the bananas without them getting spoiled too soon. It is best to keep your bananas in a dry environment on room temperature or if you want them to ripen quickly, expose them to sunlight. Never keep your bananas in your refrigerator as it tends to ripen from the inside and the bananas would just start to turn black and you can't eat them.

Bananas is a great source for nutrients like Beta-Carotene, Iron, Phosphorus, Calcium, Fiber, Thiamine, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid or Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Tryptophan, Methionine and Lysine. These are the nutrients that you would find in bananas either they're ripe or not, plaintain or dessert bananas. If you want more Vitamin C and beta-Carotene, the red bananas have it. It is believed that the redder the banana, the more Vitamin C and beta-Carotene it contains.

Bananas are exported from tropical countries where they are abundant. India is the leading Asian producer of bananas with up to 400,000 acres of land of banana plantations, the Philippines produce half a million tons a year, Indonesia produces 2 million tons a year and Taiwan produces half a million tons a year for export too. Africa produces 7% of the worldwide production of bananas while Latin America is the leading producer of bananas and produces 65% of the total worldwide production.

Bananas are delicious fruits but it's an excellent source for fiber too. The banana shoots are treated to extract the fiber and these fibers are made into yarns and are then died with different colors. Japan makes tablecloths and Kimonos from banana fibers. Other countries are also using banana fibers as well. Banana fibers are not only used for clothing but it makes paper too. Banana papers are most often hand-made but banana papers are also industrially produced too.