Bananas

One of the reasons I wanted to move here is because it would be easy to live the 100 mile diet. (which means that you eat local, and try to buy food that was grown on farms within 100 miles of where you live. – When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1500 miles from farm to plate. Think about how much CO2 is emitted from that?!)

We have certainly moved to the right place!

red banana bunch ripenening on the deck

Years ago I used to eat a banana every morning in a smoothie, and I was horrified when I heard that bananas were going extinct because of a disease that was spreading among them. I even looked into how I could get some banana trees and keep them alive on my own and safe from this disease. Of course it was never going to happen while I was living on a farm near Pigeon Lake. Anyways, here it is 4 years later and I am living in the tropics and we have about 50 banana trees growing here. And not just 1 type of banana – I didn’t even know there were so many different and yummy varieties.

Here’s Brad with a red banana. They are a bit fatter than normal bananas you would get in the store (the yellow variety is called gros mitchell) and shorter too, and sweeter! They are almost like mousse when they are ripe and melt in your mouth!

2 types of bananas

There are also the regular yellow kind known as gros mitchell, and smaller ones called apple bananas that are yellow, but miniature, about 1/2 as big as a normal one, and bologo which are really fat yellow ones but they are orange-ish inside.

Our neighbor has all kinds of types, I can’t remember them all, but the previous owner did lots of trading so that there would be many varieties growing on the property. I’ll  let you know what I find out and add to the post.

See the banana rack up top?

Do you know how banana trees grow?

The new banana tree springs out of the place where the previous year’s tree was pushed over or cut down. You see, when a banana tree has produced a rack of bananas, it is finished it’s lifecycle, so you chop down the tree, cut off the bananas, and a new tree sprouts. It takes about 1 year for a banana tree to mature and put out a rack of bananas.

We just have to watch now for a string to start on one of the trees. Some of them are large, and some of them are pretty small, so that means we’ll have bananas all year long!

Banana Nutrition Facts

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  another one of Brad's favorites

  A banana contains Vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber.

• Bananas do not contain sodium, fat or cholesterol.
• The Vitamin C, which is found in bananas, helps the body to defend and heal against infections. This vitamin also proves valuable in the synthesis of the connective tissue, absorption of iron and the formation of blood.
• Not only are bananas rich in vitamin C, they also contain potassium. Potassium is a mineral that helps in the building of muscles and protein synthesis. This is done as potassium stimulates nerve impulses for muscle contraction.
• A diet rich in potassium is said to reduce the risk of hypertension and stroke. As bananas are free from sodium and very rich in potassium, they can be included in the diet to reduce the risk of high blood pressure.
• Bananas contain three natural sugars, sucrose, fructose and glucose along with fiber. A banana thus gives an instant and substantial boost of energy.
• A banana contains Vitamin B6, which helps in the synthesis of antibodies in the immune system apart from red blood formation, protein metabolism and functioning of the central nervous system.
• No other fruit contain more digestible carbohydrates than bananas. This is advantageous because, the body burns off calories from carbohydrate more easily and quickly than calories from fat or protein.