The banana story is an interesting one and there are several good books on it, including "Banana" by Dan Koeppel and "Bananas" by Peter Chapman. For years a member of my family did work connected to the banana industry, and so I consider this topic close to home. In addition to loving bananas themselves, I have always been strongly biased toward anything banana flavored. Above all, I consider banana yogurt to be among the greatest achievements of human civilization.
The familiar banana traces its origins to south Asia, where two species -- Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana -- are considered its ancestors. Decades of cross breeding and cultivation resulted in several top-selling cultivars: the "Gros Michel", the "Grand Nain" and the "Dwarf Cavendish". Resistance to various devastating diseases has been the central challenge to the development of commercial bananas.
The global banana industry is one of the giants of agribusiness and its impact on the economies of the developing world has been beyond enormous. Nevertheless, there are lesser known species and cultivars, such as pink bananas -- Musa velutina -- that are still used in the cooking of the developing world, particularly in south Asia. Other species, such as Musa basjoo, are inedible -- to humans at any rate -- but cultivated as ornamentals and for their fibers.
Plantains are varieties of the Musa genus that are starchy and better suited for cooking than eating raw. The only other genus in the Musaceae family is Ensete, which includes the false or Ethiopian banana -- Ensete ventricosum -- which is an important food source in that part of the world.
The familiar banana traces its origins to south Asia, where two species -- Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana -- are considered its ancestors. Decades of cross breeding and cultivation resulted in several top-selling cultivars: the "Gros Michel", the "Grand Nain" and the "Dwarf Cavendish". Resistance to various devastating diseases has been the central challenge to the development of commercial bananas.
The global banana industry is one of the giants of agribusiness and its impact on the economies of the developing world has been beyond enormous. Nevertheless, there are lesser known species and cultivars, such as pink bananas -- Musa velutina -- that are still used in the cooking of the developing world, particularly in south Asia. Other species, such as Musa basjoo, are inedible -- to humans at any rate -- but cultivated as ornamentals and for their fibers.
Plantains are varieties of the Musa genus that are starchy and better suited for cooking than eating raw. The only other genus in the Musaceae family is Ensete, which includes the false or Ethiopian banana -- Ensete ventricosum -- which is an important food source in that part of the world.
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