Banana - The Versatile Wonder

by VC Staffers

The tropical fruit banana is a descendant of Musaceae family. The banana is a sweet fruit which is easily digestible and is available across the world. The banana is a favorite of children everywhere. Packed tight with energy and minerals, the banana is a treasure house of nutrition. While a banana is classified as a fruit, it can be eaten both as a vegetable and as a fruit. It is found in abundance in the tropics wherever there is adequate rain.

Not a Tree?

While we call it a tree, the banana tree is not a tree in the strict sense. It lacks the main component i.e. the woody trunk. Banana can in fact be grouped into herbaceous plants since the trunks of banana trees are formed due to overlapping of the petioles of the leaves. It actually belongs to the lily family.

Enjoying Bananas

While the banana is eaten as a fruit and vegetable, its flower is not to be left behind either. The flower is also eaten in the tropical regions as a vegetarian delicacy. This flower is part of the pod that forms at the tip of the bunch of the bananas.

While selecting a banana, take care not to select a fruit that is bruised or damaged. Take particular care to look behind the bunch as well since the weight of the bunch tends to bruise that area fastest. Choose firm bananas that are slightly greenish to yellow in color and eat them the next day as they ripen to a perfect yellow that may have a few brown dots. You may be in for a surprise if you refrigerate a banana, it will turn black in no time! However, all is well, the banana is fine, and it’s just the skin that has darkened.

You can use banana as a natural sweetener in your baking. Utilized this way, banana is a far healthier substitute for refined sugar. Not only does it give your baking many more minerals, it also provides you with a healthy dose of fiber.

You can puree over ripe bananas and blend with custard to produce a delicious creamy dessert. Top with jelly and you will have children queuing at your kitchen door!

A medium sized banana provides you with about 110 calories. About 80% of these come from the carbohydrates and sugars present in the fruit. There is about a gram of protein and a smaller amount of fat. Nearly three grams of fiber make it very bowel friendly. You can get about 11% of your daily potassium requirement from a single fruit. Since potassium is helpful in muscle contraction and the banana provides you with a bundle of carbohydrate based energy, bananas consumed about 30 minutes prior to a game are a good way to boost your performance.

Besides potassium, bananas are also a rich source of Vitamin B6 and C and magnesium. It has also been found that bananas have substances that help you uplift your mood. Perhaps that is where the term ‘going bananas’ originated!

You can safely feed small quantities of mashed bananas to an infant. Take care to ensure that the fruit is neither too firm nor over-ripe. Very few babies have ever been known to be allergic to bananas and since they are available practically anywhere, they form a good backup to you meal basket while traveling.

Did You Know?

Bananas emit a gas that actually helps other fruit ripen quickly! If you keep a banana in a paper bag with any other fruit, it helps that fruit ripen quickly. Many commercial fruit industries use commercial ripening agents that are based on the same principle.

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