I’ve been thinking about bananas lately. (Yeah, I know many of you think I am bananas, so why would that be such a stretch?)  Whenever I am on one of my health kicks, I am always buying bananas. I love them with cereal in the morning. At the supermarket, I’m amazed at how inexpensive they are – usually around 45¢ a pound, which is 2-3 good size bananas. They’re exotic, too, aren’t they? And considering what I pay for a pound of coffee, why should bananas be so cheap. What are they, the illegal immigrant of fruit? Sorry, I am disgressing.  

     Well, this a.m. I just could not stop thinking about bananas. Probably some kind of yellow journalism writer’s block or something. Anyway, I Wikipedia’ed banana and here are some of the cool things I learned. (Yeah, I know I’ll only remember this for about 15 minutes…my oldtimers is hell.)

  • Bananas are native to Southeast Asia with India being the largest producer of bananas.
  • Alexander the Great tasted bananas in the valleys of India in 327 B.C.
  • Arab traders brought bananas to Palestine in 650 A.D. and introduced them across northern Africa
  • The word "banana" has its root in the Arabic word "banan", which means "finger"
  • The Portuguese started their first banana plantations in the Caribbean and Central America in 1502
  • A banana has more starch than sugar. Its the 4th most important staple behind wheat, rice and maize. 
  • Most banana production is for local consumption since bananas bruise easily and are ruined in transportation (and still cheap)

     And sorry, the effects of smoking banana peels is all urban legend. The FDA even investigated it. Yet, the legend does have some basis in fact. Bananas contain tryptotan which, when ingested, increases levels of serotonin in the body. This is the  same effect as Prozac. A 1998 study found that eating just two bananas a day for three days increased levels of serotonin in the blood by 16%.  Well, that’s good enough for me, I am off to the market. Need any bananas?