Fyffe Fascinating Banana facts
1. Banana plants are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem. They are actually giant herbs of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms.
2. Bananas are one of the few fruits that ripen best off the plant. Even in tropical growing areas, bananas for domestic consumption are cut green and stored in moist shady places to ripen slowly.
3. Bananas are available all year-round. They are harvested every day of the year.
4. In South East Asia, the banana leaf is used to wrap food (in the place of plastic bags and cling wraps), providing a unique flavour and aroma to nasi lemak and the Indian banana leaf rice.
5. India is by far the largest world producer of bananas, growing 16.5 million tonnes in 2002, followed by Brazil which produced 6.5 million tonnes of bananas in 2002. To the Indians, the flower from the banana tree is sacred. During religious and important ceremonies such as weddings, banana flowers are tied around the head, for they believe this will bring good luck.