11 remarkable facts about bananas you didn’t know yet

Bananas are one of the world’s healthiest fruits. Whether you choose bananas as a super-quick, healthy breakfast or opt for banana bread (how many did you bake last year?) as a healthy snack, they’re packed with fiber and essential vitamins and minerals, and give you an enormous amount of energy, so you can easily get through the day. But did you already know this about the delicious yellow fellow?

There are more than 1,000 varieties of bananas

Whaaaat? Yes, really. Although everyone recognizes the familiar Cavendish bananas, there are actually many different varieties – more than 1,000, in fact! Including the Blue Java with a creamy, ice-cream-like consistency, perfect for banana ice cream; the Black Macabu, which turns black when ripe; the mild Nino, which grows no bigger than a finger; and the Burro, with square sides and a subtle lemony flavor.

The banana tree isn’t a tree at all

We may call it a tree, but did you know that the ‘banana tree’ is actually a plant? To be precise, it’s the world’s largest herb! On banana plantations, the plants are pruned down to the ground after bearing fruit, and the main fruit-bearing stem is located inside the trunk, surrounded by leaves. Because of its enormous size, however, the banana plant is always considered a tree.

Bananas are… berries!

As surprising as it may sound, botanically speaking, bananas are considered berries. Bananas develop from a single flower with more than one ovary, which makes them an aggregate fruit. We’re going bananas over facts like these!

You can make fabric from bananas

In Okinawa, Japan, people have been making and wearing kimonos from banana fibers since ancient times, and the fabric is known to be strong – yet light and thin – allowing air to circulate well all year round. I’d definitely like to shine in a banana blouse this summer!

Bananas make you run faster

Track coach Melvin Nyairo dreamed of one day securing the Guinness World Record for the fastest half-marathon runner – dressed as a fruit. The fastest marathon ever run by a person dressed as a banana was recorded at 2 hours, 58 minutes and 20 seconds, at the Barcelona Marathon on March 6, 2011. To celebrate his amazing achievement, Chiquita rewarded him, entirely in keeping with the theme, with a year’s supply of free bananas.

Bananas are the most popular fruit

More than 100 billion bananas are eaten around the world every year! Americans eat an average of 27 kilos of bananas per person per year, and more than 96% of American households buy bananas at least once a month. I eat two bananas every day myself, not counting the bananas in banana cake and banana pancakes. I genuinely love them. And by the way, have you ever tried these amazing fried banana fritters? Ooh la la, so delicious!

Bananas have a very logical jargon

The proper term for a bunch of bananas is a ‘hand’, so it makes perfect sense that an individual banana is known as a ‘finger’. Those brown spots you see on a banana as it starts to ripen are known as ‘sugar spots’. So, next time you talk about your favorite healthy snack, you can use the technical jargon.

Banana peels are incredibly useful

No, don’t throw them on the street; save those peels! There are so many useful applications for banana peels. Did you know, for example, that you can reduce the swelling and irritation after an insect or mosquito bite by rubbing the inside of a banana peel over the bite? It’s also said that you should place a piece of banana peel over a splinter, because the enzymes help draw the splinter out. Many people even swear that rubbing banana peel over your forehead can cure a headache!

You can also make banana tea from the peels. To make banana-peel tea, put the banana peel in a pan of water and let it simmer gently for ten minutes. Use tongs to remove the peel and add honey or sugar to taste. It’s not only delicious, but also wonderfully soothing on a cold winter’s day.

As for throwing those peels on the street: at the beginning of the 19th century, so many bananas were eaten as street food in the United States and the peels were left lying in the streets that they caused accidents. The city of St. Louis promptly issued an official ban on throwing banana peels into the street. You can also eat banana peels.

There’s a banana museum

The International Banana Museum in Mecca, California, proudly displays more than 25,000 banana-related items! You’ll find banana lamps, banana jewelry, banana photos, banana toys and literally every type of banana merchandise you could possibly take in in one day.

Singing about bananas is popular

Did you know that more songs have been written about bananas than about any other fruit? There’s even a Spotify playlist called Go Bananas with more than 60 songs about bananas.

You’ve probably been peeling your banana incorrectly your entire life

Do you also always hold the banana by the stem and try to snap it? Wrong! Look at our genetic relatives, the chimpanzees. They know exactly how to peel a banana as quickly as possible. The trick is to start at the top. The end opposite the stem, that is. Squeeze it there and the banana opens easily. An added bonus: your first bite won’t contain that black gooey bit that’s always attached to the stem. It’s not a spider leg, as claimed on the internet, but the remnant of the flower from which the banana grew.

Read also:

• Shit: we really do have a serious banana problem
• Eating a banana in public always feels a little bit like porn
• All the candy every banana lover should know

Source: Chiquita