They’re the most consumed fruit in the United States and, if you exclude tomatoes (which aren’t really fruit from a culinary standpoint), they’re also the favorite fruit of the world.
Despite their ubiquity, there are some surprising things that you may not know about them. They’re far more than a creamy white fruit in a bright yellow jacket. Read on to discover a few banana facts that may be new to you.
There are pink hairy bananas and lots of other types, too.
Bananas are grown in more than 150 countries and it’s estimated that there are over 1,000 types worldwide. These include a wide variety of shapes, sizes, textures and colors, some quite exotic.
Blue Java bananas (also known as ice cream bananas) have blue skin and flesh that tastes like vanilla ice cream.
The tangy Apple banana, popular in Hawaii, has a tart apple-like flavor, and the square-sided Burro banana tastes like lemon when it’s ripe.
Diminutive Lady Finger bananas are just 3 inches long with a creamy texture and honey-like flavor.
The Macabu banana is black when fully ripe and the scarlet banana, native to China and pollinated by bats, has bright red skin.
As to the aforementioned hairy pink bananas, they’re grown mostly for ornamental purposes; however, the flesh is edible and sweet. Watch out for the seeds, though! Like wild bananas, the pea-sized seeds are hard and plentiful.
Don’t throw those skins away — you can cook with them!
While banana peels are common in some world cuisines (Southeast Asia and India, for example), in the last few years they’ve been trending as a culinary alternative in the Western world.
I recently read that British culinary superstar Nigella Lawson demonstrated a fragrant curry using banana skins and cauliflower on her television show, causing a bit of consternation in the British media. This led me to a flurry of research and to my surprise I found that using banana peels as a component of cuisine is becoming a popular topic.
I’ve learned that if banana skins are cooked with onions, garlic and barbecue sauce, they can become a no-meat alternative to pulled pork or chicken (“pulled not-pork,” as some like to call it), and that banana peels can also be made into an alternative for bacon.
Banana skins can be pureed to use in baked goods to punch up flavor (think banana bread or cake) and chopped bits of peel add texture.
If you’d like to try your hand at cooking with banana skins, be sure to buy organic bananas to avoid pesticides and scrub them well.
Banana skins are also good for some pretty surprising things!
I haven’t tested any of these claims, but banana peels are said to be useful for a plethora of ailments, bodily and otherwise!
They can be rubbed on the skin to remove ink, to soothe insect bites or to help loosen splinter fragments. Dusting plant leaves, polishing shoes, and even whitening teeth are in the banana peel’s repertoire.
Some have rubbed them on a scratched CD or DVD to prevent skipping. (They say this fills the scratches without damaging the plastic finish.)
Perhaps most surprising of all (at least to me) is that powder made from banana skins is used to clean heavy metal contamination from rivers and other water sources. Up to 65% is removed after just 40 minutes, and the process can be repeated.
Despite appearances, bananas don’t grow on trees.
Banana plants are not trees at all (though they’re called that colloquially); rather, they’re an herb distantly related to ginger. They’re classified as such because the stem is a succulent stalk rather than a woody trunk. In scientific circles the stalk is referred to as a “pseudostem.”
As a bonus, I’ll note that bananas grow in what are known as “hands” because of their fingerlike appearance.
Some scientists believe that bananas may have been the first fruit.
Bananas are believed to have originated in Southeast Asia, in the jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia or the Philippines, where many wild varieties still grow today. Some horticulturists believe they may be the world’s oldest fruit.
The first bananas were likely first cultivated some 7,000 years ago in what is now Papua New Guinea. They’re mentioned in ancient Hindu, Chinese, Roman and Greek texts, with the earliest, written in Sanskrit, dating back 5,000 years.
Apart from this and as an aside, Carl Linnaeus, an 18th century Swedish botanist, theorized that the fruit eaten by Eve in the Biblical story was a banana.
You can make paper and textiles with banana trees and it’s good for the environment!
Banana fabric is soft with a natural shine and is often compared to silk. It’s made from fiber from the stalks of the banana plant — the pseudo stem — which are often discarded once the bananas have been harvested. (This happens since fruit can only be harvested from the plant once in its lifetime.)
Fabric made from banana fiber is experiencing a rise in popularity, however, the process isn’t new. Textiles have been made in Asia from this resource since at least the 13th century, but the fabric fell out of favor with the rise of silk and cotton.
A leather-like, biodegradable paper is also made from banana fiber. Used mostly for artistic purposes or products like paper pens, notebooks, wallets, and business cards, it’s produced in a rainbow of colors.
Utilizing banana stalks in these ways drastically reduces the waste from banana agriculture which would otherwise negatively affect surrounding ecosystems.
Every part of the banana plant is useful.
The banana plant is quite generous. In addition to delicious fruit and the various beneficial uses of its skins and stalks, it offers its flowers and leaves for some interesting culinary opportunities.
Banana leaves are used in a variety of cuisines (Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic and Hawaiian, for example). They add a mild, sweet, earthy flavor to foods that are wrapped in them when cooked, and because they’re sturdy and large with a deep green color, they make decorative and practical serving vessels.
Banana flowers are subtly sweet, with a similar aromatic profile to a banana, though more delicate and less pronounced. They can be eaten raw, such as in a salad, or cooked, often in a stir-fry or soup.
Tea is made from the blossoms, as well, and is obtainable online if you’d like to try it.
Commercially grown bananas are clones and monoculture may be a death knell.
Bananas grown commercially are propagated through cuttings and not sprouted from seeds, making each banana a clone of the original. (Unlike wild bananas, the seeds of cultivated bananas are mere specks and not viable.)
There is no banana cloned more than the Cavendish variety. It’s the banana we commonly see in supermarket produce aisles.
Of the more than 1,000 varieties of bananas that are grown throughout the world, the Cavendish makes up a full 47% of global banana production.
This all means that bananas are grown in a monoculture system (i.e., planting just one type of crop rather than a variety), and while this can increase production, it makes the crop notoriously vulnerable to disease.
Before the Cavendish banana was the most popular variety, there was the Gros Michel (also known as the Big Mike), the first to be cultivated on a large scale. Unfortunately, a virulent fungus known as the Panama Disease descended on Gros Michel plantations, devastating the crop and rendering the Gros Michel banana virtually extinct.
A variety of the Panama Disease is successfully attacking Cavendish bananas because of its lack of genetic diversity and the fear of extinction once again looms.
On a brighter note, today’s recipe utilizes plantains, a member of the banana family popular in cuisine around the world, particularly in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Plantains are starchier and less sweet than other bananas, making them perfect for savory dishes like these griddle cakes.
Plantain Griddle Cakes
6 plantains, soft and very ripe (skin will be blackened)
1 cup milk, either dairy or plant-based
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups cornmeal
4 tablespoons coconut oil, liquefied, plus more for the griddle*
1 small onion or medium shallot, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
Chop and mash the plantains in a large bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients (other than the oil reserved for the griddle) and combine, stirring and mashing until thoroughly mixed but slightly chunky.
Cover bowl and refrigerate mixture for about 30 minutes.
Heat a large nonstick pan or griddle and brush with coconut oil.
Ladle ½ cup plantain mixture onto pan or griddle and spread it into a circle that’s roughly four inches in diameter.
Cook over medium heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.
Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking pan to allow excess fat to drain.
Repeat until all batter is used. This should make about 8 griddle cakes.
Serve hot and enjoy! (They’re yummy accompanied by black beans and avocado.)
*Note: If preferred, a neutral oil such as canola or sunflower can be used for the griddle in place of coconut oil.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
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