Banana Information
Bananas didn't come to North America till the late 1800. Many of the bananas came from South America, namely Costa Rica at that time.
When the banana first arrived in America they were individually wrapped in tin foil, the bananas sold for 10 cents each in Pennsylvania around 1876. This was during the celebration of the Declaration of Independence.
By the beginning of the 1900 America was importing 16 million bunches of bananas a year from Central America. It is believed that there is almost 1000 varieties of bananas in the world. The most commonly known banana is the Cavendish variety, which is the one produced for the export market.
A few of the different bananas you may find in your super market in North America are the ladyfinger bananas or also known as the baby banana. These bananas are the small cousins of the Cavendish banana. It has a sweeter flavor and is smaller in appearance.
The ladyfinger banana is very popular in Asia, Africa and South America. This is a wonderful banana to use in fruit salads, banana breads or just for a snack.
Another popular banana in North America is the Red Banana. They are
little smaller in size then the regular Cavendish banana. But, larger
then the ladyfinger. The Red Banana has a deep red peeling. Sometimes
more on the purple side. The Red banana has a
wonderful creamy white to pink flesh, with a slight raspberry-banana
flavor. These bananas are also great in fruit salad and banana bread
recipes or as a snack.
There are many other varieties of bananas that you may find in the supermarket, depending on where you live. Such as the, Ice Cream, Kaulaua, Brazilian or the Carbada banana. They are all wonderful to use in baking.
Bananas have a lot of beneficial nutritional value. They are a great source of Vitamin C, B6 and A. Bananas have a high content of carbohydrates and fiber. They are low in protein and fat free. Bananas are not good if you are on the Atkins diet. Bananas are also a good source of Potassium.
Storing Bananas
Bananas should never be stored in the refrigerator! Because, they will not ripen properly.
Give yellow - green bananas time to ripen at room temperature from one to three days, It's not a good idea to eat green bananas because, they are hard to digest.
If you want to help speed up the ripening process place the bananas in a paper or plastic bag. Adding an apple to the bag will help to encourage faster ripening.
One thing I like to do is when the bananas become to ripe, I place them in the freezer, peel and all. They can be kept in the freezer for up to 4 months. When you want to make banana bread just remove them about 6 hours before you want to use them for banana bread. The peels will have turned black and the banana inside will be mushy when thawed, but, still good. I have taken then out of the freezer and placed them in the microwave peel and all. Turned the microwave to defrost for a few minutes. Then used them for banana bread. It worked out great.