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The Banana History
Nutritional facts
Growing of the banana
Banana transportation
The different brands they import
The packaging
The banana is mentioned for the first time in history in buddhist texts 600 years BC. Alexander the Great discovers the taste of the banana in the Indian valleys in 327 BC . The existence of an organized banana plantation could be found in China back in the year 200 AD. In 650 AD, Islamic conquerors brought the banana back to Palestine. The Arabic merchants finally spread the bananas all over Africa.
Only in 1502 the Portuguese start the first banana plantation in the
Caribbean and in central America.
Nutritional factsThe banana is nourishing, does not contain fat, and can be eaten at every hour of the day because of its digestive properties. The banana holds 23% of hydrocarbonate for 0,2% of fat. The cholesterol level is 0,00%; a 100 grams of banana has as low calories as a 100 grams of yoghurt with fruit.
The banana is full of proteins , and the sugar provided gives a lot of energy to those practising sports requiring endurance. Moreover, it contains magnesium, selenium, iron, a lot of vitamines, and is recommended for salt-free diets because of its low contents in sodium chloridium.
The growing of the BananaThe banana plant is ...not a tree, but a giant herb of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms. There are about 400 varieties of bananas. The rhizome is planted and gives a first shoot 3 or 4 weeks later. After 9 to 10 months the inflorescence from the foliated circlet has a diameter that can be as large as 7 meters. Three days after that, a bud hangs on the plant. On the fifth day, the bud turns red and starts opening. On the seventh day the leafs who covered it are falling down and finally two days later you can already see the first banana hands.The trunk of a banana plant is made of sheaths of overlapping leaves, tightly wrapped around each other like stalks in a celery bunch.
The word banana is derivated from the Arabic meaning 'finger'.
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Each banana stem consists of 10 to 14 hands each of them carrying from 18 to 20 bananas. The harvest starts when the banana is still green. Bananas for domestic consumption are cut green. Then the race starts against the clock. From the harvest through the delivery to the shop resailer, there are only 20 days left. The hands are removed, washed, cut in smaller pieces called clusters, packed in hygienical carton boxes, each of those boxes weighing 18 kg net (40 lb). |
TransportationThe transportation is done with specialized refrigerated ships . Bananas are loaded into refrigerated cargo vessels and shipped green at a controlled temperature of 14,5°C (58°F). Each ship contains 250.000 boxes of bananas collected the day before.
The crossing to Europe lasts about 11 days. The temperature is frequently controlled to avoid any premature ripening.
The different brands that they importThe packagingA long time ago bananas were imported in stems. Then from Rotterdam to Brussels, by train. Each wagon could carry from 600 to 700 stems. Afterwards, they had to be stocked in temperated rooms until they came to maturation.
Today, bananas are imported in boxes, wich enables a more easy manipulation and a more convenient process of transportation.
Just like in the past, they are still stocked in hermetical ripening rooms for 6 to 8 days at a temperature that can not exceed 14,5°C. This temperature allows a homogeneous ripening of the bananas of a different size.
