Click Here to Subscribe to our Free Weekly Newsletter

FoodReference.com - Trivia section
Food Facts, Food Trivia, Food Science, Food History
An eclectic collection of information about various food items and subjects

Get a Free Trial issue SAVEUR The award-winning magazine that celebrates the people, places and rituals that establish culinary traditions.

YOU ARE HERE >>

Dont’ forget to check for additional information in Articles & Cooks Tips

See also: Kitchen tips on Bananas, Banana Bread Article

BANANAS

Banana Bandit William T. Templeton 26 in x 34 in Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com Framed | Mounted

Supposedly, one of the first shipments of bananas to reach the colonies was in 1690 at Salem, Mass. They tried boiling them with pork. It took nearly 200 years after that culinary disaster for bananas to catch on with North Americans. Today, average consumption is over 30 pounds.

Bananas trees are not trees. The banana plant is a giant herb.

Unripe bananas have about 25% starch and only 1% sugar. Natural enzyme action converts this high starch content to sugar, so ripe bananas have a 20% sugar content.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans knew the banana as the "Indian Fig".

The terms 'bee's knees,' 'the cat's pajamas,' and 'Yes, we have no bananas' were all coined by American cartoonist Tad Dorgan.

One variety of banana, the 'Ice Cream Banana', is BLUE. It turns yellow like other bananas when ripe, and has a taste like vanilla custard and a marshmallow texture.

‘Red bananas’ are maroon to dark purple when ripe, and even the fruit inside can have a slight pinkish color.

The average banana contains .6 grams fat.

Until the early 1800s in Hawaii, most banana varieties were 'kapu' -  forbidden for women of Hawaii to eat, under penalty of death.

The very heart of the trunk of a banana 'tree' - inside the layers of bark fiber, is a white tube. It may be cooked, and has a taste and texture similar to bamboo shoots.

India, with rich bio-diversity of banana and plantain, is the largest producer and consumer with estimated production of 16 million tonnes of bananas annually. India's domestic production alone exceeds the entire world trade.