My passion for bananas...

I absolutelly love bananas!!

As most of my friends know, I eat at least 356 bananas per year! 

It's a huge passion indeed! I like to eat the raw fruit just like it is or cooked in desserts. Humm, how can I not mention banana ice cream? And banana jelly?

 He, he!!

Banana is the common name for any of a genus of tropical, treelike herbs and also

 for their fruit. Native to Southeast Asia but are now grown extensively in all 

tropical countries. The banana is a large, herbaceous plant with a perennial root, 

or rhizome,  from which the plant is perpetuated by sprouts or suckers. In the 

tropics the stems are annual. They die after perfecting the fruit, and new stems are developed from buds in the rootstock. These stems, or buds, are the common 

means of propagating and making new plantations, and the growth is so rapid that

 the fruit is usually ripe within ten months after the offsets are planted. When fully grown the stem attains a height of 3 to 12 mt (10 to 40 ft) and is surmounted

 by a crown of large oval leaves up to 3 m (10 ft) long,  with a strong fleshy

 footstalk and midrib. 

The fruits vary in length from about 10 to 30 cm (about 4 to 12 in). The average weight of a bunch is about 11 kg (about 25 lb), but individual bunches often exceed 18 kg (40 lb). A stalk bears only once, dies down, and is replaced by sprouts, two or three of which are allowed to bear fruit. The edible part of the banana contains, on the average, 75

 percent water, 21 percent carbohydrate, and about 1 percent each of fat, protein, fiber, and ash. Other parts of the plant abound in fiber, which can be used in the manufacture of paper and cordage.

Facts from Encarta

Bananas are rich in potassium, vitamins B, A and C!!

Ingredients:

4 or 5 bananas

1 cup brown sugar

cinnamon

4 tablespoons cold butter in pieces

1 cup flour

Slice bananas lengthwise and place them in a buttered dish.

Combine flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Spoon crumble mixture over fruit.

Add cold butter around the dish.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serve it hot with vanilla ice cream, yummie!!!!

Page created on April, 15, 2002