A banana is a tree-like plant (though strictly a herb) of the genus Musa in the family Musaceae, closely related to plantains. The stems grow to 4-8 m tall, with large leaves 2-3 m long. The term banana is also applied to the elongated fruit (technically a false berry) of the plant, which grows (in edible species and varieties) in hanging clusters, several to many fruits to a tier (called a hand), many tiers to a bunch. Bananas typically weigh between 125-200 g, though this varies considerably between different cultivars; of this, about 80% is edible, and the skin the remaining 20%. 

The total of hanging clusters is called a 'stem' in the commercial world. Pre-historic peoples in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific originally cultivated the banana. 

The temperature at which they ripen affects the flavor and texture of many kinds of bananas. Bananas spoil and turn grey at low temperatures and are only refrigerated down to 13.5°C during transportation.

In 2002, over 68 million tons were harvested of which 12 million tons were traded worldwide, with Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and the Philippines exporting over 1 million tons of bananas each. 

History 

Domestication of bananas took place in South East Asia. Many species of wild bananas still occur in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BC, and possibly goes back to 8000 BC. This would make the New Guinean highlands the place where bananas were first domesticated. It is likely that other species of wild bananas were later also domesticated elsewhere in South East Asia. 

The banana is mentioned for the first time in written history in Buddhist texts in 600 BC. Alexander the Great discovered the taste of the banana in the valleys of India in 327 BC. The existence of an organized banana plantation could be found in China back in the year 200 AD. In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine. Arab merchants eventually spread bananas over much of Africa. In 1502, Portuguese colonists started the first banana plantations in the Caribbean and in Central America. 

Properties 

Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors. The ripe fruit is easily peeled and eaten raw or cooked. Depending upon variety and ripeness, the flesh can be starchy to sweet, and firm to mushy. Unripe or 'green' plantains and bananas are used in cooking and are the staple starch of some tropical populations. 

While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, seedless and triploid varieties have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. These offshoots are called followers or suckers in the trade, and one or two of them are the source for the next stem of fruit the plant produces, because the plant is normally cut down at the time of harvest. A stem of bananas can weigh from 30-50 kg, and they are usually carried on the shoulder. 

The commercial sweet varieties most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa x paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics, where they are popular in part because they are available fresh year-round. In global commerce, by far the most important of these banana cultivars is 'Cavendish', which accounts for the vast bulk of bananas exported outside of the tropics. 

Banana chips are a snack produced from bananas. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. However unlike other fruits, bananas have only recently been used to prepare juice and squashes. Despite 85 % water content, it has historically been difficult to extract juice from the fruit because when compressed, a banana simply turns to pulp. In 2004, scientists at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India, patented a technique for extracting juice by treating banana pulp in a reaction vessel for four to six hours 

Banana trade 

Bananas are among the most widely consumed fruits in the world. However, many banana farmers receive a low price for their produce. This has led to bananas being available as a 'fair trade' item in some countries. The banana has an extensive trade history beginning with the founding of the United Fruit Company at the end of the nineteenth century. For much of the 20th century, bananas and coffee dominated the export economies of Central America. In the 1930s, bananas and coffee made up as much as 75 percent of the region's exports. As late as 1960, the two crops accounted for 67 percent of the exports from the region. Though the two were grown in similar regions, they tended not to be distributed together. The United Fruit Company based its business almost entirely on the banana trade, as the coffee trade proved too difficult for them to control. The term "banana republic" has been broadly applied to the countries in the region, but from a strict economic perspective only Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama were actual "banana republics" – countries with economies dominated by the banana trade.