Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World

The Belgians are masters of the fruit

There are a lot of things Belgians know about bananas: the scientist Edmond De Langhe is probably the greatest living banana explorer. He's spent much of his life traveling the world, looking for new species of the fruit. His specimens are stored at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium; over 1,000 different banana types are kept there. The collection acts as both a way of preserving the fruit's biodiversity in a rapidly-overdeveloping world, and as the raw material for future banana breeding. One of the Leuven bananas might hold the key to building a more disease-resistant version of the fruit. Much of the work in the attempt to find that grail banana is being overseen by Rony Swennen, a De Langhe protege and advocate (as I am) of the use of genetic modification to broaden the fruit's experimental possibilities.

...more after the jump, including a correction...

Give bananas for the holidays...

Banana trees are pretty easy to cultivate, but getting them to yield fruit is unlikely unless you're in the tropics - or own a large greenhouse. But with luck, you can get some nice leaves and use them to wrap sticky rice (recipes). The banana growing kit above is s $12.98 and comes complete with a plastic monkey.

...even more presents after the jump...

"Ugandan Idol" finalist to pick up banana peels

Uganda is the world's most banana-eating nation. Many people there rely on the fruit for eighty percent of their caloric needs. The average Ugandan eats about 500 pounds of the fruit per year, and in some villages, consumption is double that (by comparison, the average U.S. citizen eats 25 pounds of bananas annually.)

One problem with so many bananas: what to do with the peels? Allowing them to rot away is both unsanitary and a logistical nightmare, considering the vast quantities of banana skins Ugandans discard.

A contestant on a game show airing on the nation's NTV network had a better idea: use the peels as a source of renewable energy. The proposal came on a television series called "Show Me The Money," where young Ugandans present their ideas for environmentally-sustainable entrepreneurial projects to a panel of three judges. The program - like "American Idol," but without the strangely magnetic idiocy of contestants singing "Over the Rainbow" to Paula Abdul - whittles the competitors down to a group of finalists. The banana proposal has made it to the top 15. Next week, it will face off against proposals to build an architectural model shop in Kampala, and another that would deliver anti-malarial drugs in the form of herbal teas.

The show will air three times weekly until December 5, when a winner will be declared and awarded a prize of 50,000,000 Ugandan shillings, or about USD $30,000. Runners-up will receive 15,000,000 shillings each.

The network continues to air "Malcolm in the Middle."

Image: village bananas, from the "I've left Copenhagen for Uganda" blog.

Picture of the day...

...from the wonderfully restored Popeye DVD box (this is from disc two, "Wild Elephinks.") Bananas, in 1933, when the cartoon was made, cost a nickel apiece - less than half the price of apples.

(click for full-size image)

Buy the complete Popeye remastered set at Amazon or iTunes

Chiquita sued for aiding Colombia torture

The world's largest banana company admitted to supplying payoffs to United Self Defense of Colombia, a U.S State Departments designated terrorist group that Forbes magazine descried as being responsible for "kidnapping, torture, disappearance, rape, murder, beatings, extortion, and drug trafficking."

The payments, which totalled $1.4 million, occurred between 1997 and 2004. In 2007, Chiquita confessed to the bribes, which CEO Fernando Aguirre described as "protection payments to safeguard our workforce." Finally, Aguirre added, the company found a "business solution," and sold its Colombian assets.

Chiquita has a bloody history in Colombia...

The fix must have been in at the Texas State Fair!

see original image at flickr.

Every October, culinary masters compete at the Texas State Fair for the "Big Tex" prize - an award for the most fabulous, new recipe for a fried dessert. Though this year's winner - fried cookie dough - sounds lovely, I was bummed to hear that a recipe for Fried Banana Pudding failed to place, especially considering the heart-wrenching tale behind it, according to the Dallas Morning News:

"Although food vendor Debbie Hays and her family were among the vendors who weren't awarded a Big Tex trophy, they said they are still walking tall.

B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding was the invention of Ms. Hays' brother, longtime concessionaire B.W. Morrow, who died of a heart attack earlier this year. His recipe was picked to be in the contest posthumously.

His wife and daughter came to the contest to see how everyone would respond to Mr. Morrow's last fair food contribution, banana pudding wrapped in a tortilla and fried.

The judges said it was deliciously comforting.

"He had worked on creating this for this year's fair," said Mr. Morrow's wife, Judy. "This is a real honor for us to be in the contest. He'd be proud."

Rest in peace, B.W. You've earned your place in the pantheon of the greats.

(click for full-size image)

I learned about Amy Crehore in a listing at BoingBong. Her stuff is stunning and mysterious, especially her "Monkey Love" series, which includes this oil.

Her work will be on exhibit in Santa Monica at the Robert Berman Gallery (Bergamot Station) starting Saturday, November 17.

Yes, a bit of stretch to relate to the book. But so lovely...

Eat these

Twinkies are not baked. They cook themselves at room temperature. Until World War II, the filling was made with bananas (huh? Hostess used real flavors?) Then, a shortage of the fruit led to the introduction of today's "white" flavored innards.

Banana Twinkies - Return, oh primal filling - A full Zen circle

Bananas are not supposed to grow in Centralia, Illinois

But this fellow seems to have done it.

Link: Royster's banana plants yield
fruit after 30-plus years
.

An attempt at banana bread...

A pretty common banana tip is that if you've got a bunch that's getting too brown to eat, throw it into the freezer. They'll go black quicker, but they'll last long enough for you to make some delicious banana bread (you have to remove the bananas and let the softening process continue a bit to get the fruit to turn into the gooey glop needed to actually get the baking started.)

Kalee (my gf) made some the other night. She used a variation from Cook's Illustrated's "The Best Recipe" that calls for oversized chunks of unsweetened chocolate to balance the sugariness of the ultra-ripe fruit. Unfortunately, our lovely, 1930s-era, just-serviced oven conked out at the halfway marm, and we had to rush the pan into our toaster oven. (Yikes.)

Surprisingly, the bread turned out just fine - as this get-a-picture-before-its-gone snapshot shows.

Here's a link to a bunch of banana bread recipes, including one with chocolate chips.