I'll Bet You Didn't Know This About Bananas

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I sure didn’t know all these things. But, I thought I would share this research that I did several years ago, after a trip to Jamaica. The photo is me with a banana tree in Jamaica. Alexander the Great and his armies discovered bananas growing in India in 327 B.C. This is probably the first historical mention of bananas, but no doubt they grew there long before Alexander found them. The banana has often been called, the ”fruit of the wise men” because sages of India rested in the shade of the plant and ate its fruit, according to history. When the Portuguese discovered the Guinea Coast of Africa in 1482, they found bananas growing there, not doubt brought there in ancient times, according to plant scientists. From there, explorers took the roots of the plant and its African name to the Canary Islands. In 1516, a Spanish missionary brought the plants to Hispaniola. Other missionaries then followed the pattern and took the plants to other islands in the Caribbean. Bananas were finally brought to the United States in the latter part of the 19th century for sale in stores. Before that time, very few Americans had ever seen or tasted the banana. Bananas grow in bunches and each bunch has 9-16 clusters called “hands.” To grow new bananas, pieces of the root stock (and this stock must have one or more sprouts or “eyes” like a potato) are planted in the ground. There is no banana seed. And there is no potato seed. You have to give credit to God for the first banana plants, which he planted in the Garden of Eden, along with all the other plants, we find on the earth today. Bananas grow upside down and about 8-10 months and after planting, produce a flower that develops into a bunch. Each plant produces only one bunch, which has several clusters. Bananas are shipped under refrigeration while still green. If left on the plant until they were yellow, they would spoil. Banana plants, if properly cared for and not destroyed by disease, winds or floods, will produce for many years. I hope you enjoyed learning more about bananas. I certainly did.