August 27th is celebrated as Banana Lovers Day. We’ve gathered interesting facts that might surprise even botany enthusiasts.
From a botanical point of view, the banana is a berry (which cannot be said about raspberries). It has a fleshy pulp and many seeds—though they are only noticeable in wild varieties. In cultivated ones, the seeds are almost completely reduced to small black dots.
Many ideas about the banana palm are mistaken. The fruits do not grow on a tree, but on a giant herbaceous plant, called Musa in Latin. What we perceive as a trunk is actually the tightly packed leaf bases forming a false stem. Some species of this plant can reach a height of 12 m, making the banana one of the tallest herbs in the world.
The banana is one of the oldest domesticated plants. It is believed that humans domesticated bananas about 7000 years ago on the island of New Guinea. However, the first cultivated bananas were not sweet but vegetable-like (plantains). They are still fried, boiled, baked, and ground into flour today. They are an important source of starch for millions of people in tropical regions.
Dozens of varieties exist. For example, red bananas have a skin of the corresponding color, a softer and sweeter pulp with a raspberry hue. And the ‘Blue Java’ variety is distinguished by a bluish tint of the skin and a taste that surprisingly resembles vanilla ice cream. Because of their unusual taste and color, these fruits are also called ice cream bananas and vanilla bananas.
Panama disease has already caused colossal damage to plantations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
The main threat to bananas is Panama disease, caused by the soil fungus Fusarium oxysporum. It affects the plant’s vascular system, blocking the access of water and nutrients, which inevitably leads to its death.
In the mid-20th century, this disease (strain TR1) completely destroyed the most popular commercial variety, ‘Gros Michel’, which was larger and tastier than the current ones. Now, a new variety of the fungus—Tropical Race 4 (TR4)—threatens the total destruction of the worldwide popular ‘Cavendish’ variety, which forms the basis of exports. This disease has already caused colossal damage to plantations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and threatens 80% of world production.
One company recently presented bananas that “do not turn brown.”
The only way to save bananas from extinction is to make them more resistant to diseases. Scientists from various countries are trying to develop new varieties using gene-editing technology.
For example, one company recently presented bananas that “do not turn brown.” They last longer both in the peel and without it, remaining appetizing even 12 hours after being peeled and sliced. These gene-edited bananas have already received approval in the Philippines.
The global banana industry faces the problem of huge losses: over 60% of exported bananas spoil before even reaching the counter. When decomposing, this organic waste releases carbon dioxide, contributing to the greenhouse effect. So when you see a call in the store to save a lonely banana, it’s not a marketing joke but an environmental slogan.
There is an opinion that the introduction of a banana variety that does not darken could potentially reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 25%. For clarity: this effect is equivalent to removing two million cars from the roads annually.
Scientists say that urgent measures are needed to prevent a banana apocalypse: expanding irrigation, developing heat-resistant varieties, and supporting farmers.
According to climate scientists’ forecasts, climate change could make growing bananas economically unprofitable in a significant part of Latin America and the Caribbean by 2080. Rising temperatures create unfavorable conditions for this crop. Colombia and Costa Rica risk becoming too hot for banana plantations.
Scientists say that urgent measures are needed to prevent a banana apocalypse: expanding irrigation, developing heat-resistant varieties, and supporting farmers.
To receive any remotely dangerous dose of radiation, one would need to eat ten million bananas at once.
Bananas are naturally radioactive due to their content of the potassium-40 isotope. This phenomenon even gave rise to a humorous unit of measurement—the “banana equivalent dose”—for assessing small doses of radiation. However, our body effectively removes excess potassium. Therefore, to receive any remotely dangerous dose of radiation, one would need to eat ten million bananas at once. And that is physically impossible.
High potassium content helps normalize blood pressure, and pectin cleanses blood vessels of excess cholesterol.
Bananas contain a mass of useful substances. High potassium content helps normalize blood pressure, and pectin cleanses blood vessels of excess cholesterol. It is believed that the combination of tryptophan (which is converted into the “happiness hormone” serotonin in the body), magnesium, and B vitamins helps fight stress, anxiety, and improves sleep. And fiber stimulates intestinal function.
A hundred years ago, a banana shortage caused by Panama disease inspired Americans to create the song “Yes! We Have No Bananas.”
The poet Frank Silver regularly heard this slogan from a Greek man who sold fruit on Long Island. The combination of the word “Yes!” and the sentence “We Have No Bananas” sounded paradoxical and incorrect to English-speaking listeners, but it was precisely because of this that the song went viral in 1923. Subsequently, it regained popularity more than once when banana shortages occurred.
For example, during World War II, the British government banned banana imports for five years, and stores often displayed ironic posters: “Yes, we have no bananas.
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