My wife sent me an article the other day that contained some interesting (in a bad way) information on banana cultivation:
You’ve eaten a banana. You may be eating one right now. If you live in the U.S., it’s probable that you’ve eaten more bananas than any other type of fruit (save the oranges in your morning glass of juice) even though commercial bananas probably don’t grow anywhere close to your local supermarket.
According to FairTrade.net, Almost 100 million metric tons of bananas are consumed every year. Bananas are cheap, they taste good, and they’re convenient, but should you keep eating them? I quit bananas several years ago for a few reasons.
The Cavendish, the type of banana we’re most familiar with, is high in sugar. Per 100-gram serving, it contains MORE sugar than soda (12 grams to 9 grams). Of course, bananas’ sugars are naturally occurring and healthier than the junk in soda. But even though bananas are rich in fiber and potassium, they are a highly sweet fruit. The riper a banana gets, the sweeter, too.
If you’re minding your sugar intake for health reasons, this is one fruit that you might do best to replace with something less sweet. Strawberries, for example, have one-third fewer sugars.
While more than 15 percent of all bananas are Rainforest Alliance certified, which is helping to correct some issues in the banana industry, the majority of the bananas that are sold in the U.S. aren’t Fair Trade, or Rainforest Alliance certified. Banana plantations have been called out for using child labor, clear cutting massive swaths of our deteriorating rainforest, and implicated in political corruption, reports FairTrade.net. “Large corporations involved in banana production have historically had negative influence over Latin American governments in the countries where their plantations are based…” (KEEP READING)
We live in Florida. You CAN grow your own bananas here. If you aren’t, maybe it’s time to start.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
3 comments
Sir I am in Florida on vacation. Where is your nursery? May I come and browse?
We would be coming from Orlando
Matthew and Valerie
A documentary called "Bananas" was put together about Dole using certain pesticides which made farm workers non-fertile and worse. It never did make it because Dole found out about it. Here is the link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VYPQ6jJKWY Because Dole attorneys threatened the filmmaker, the film did not make it to the film festivals. Instead, a film about the making of the film came out – called "Big Boys Gone Bananas" – I found it interesting. And on Netflix. And I wish in my dreams I could taste a banana ripe off the tree!
-Erik
Fascinating – thank you for the link.
There's really nothing like ripe homegrown bananas. The ones I sampled at Pilgrim's Farm were incredible.
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