Technically, banana trees don’t exist. Bananas grow on really big herbs!

Just like ‘Day of the Triffids‘ right?  The banana plant is the world’s largest herb and can grow up to around 8 meters tall.  The reason the plant is classified as a herb is because there are no woody fibres in the trunk,..which means the ‘trunk’ is actually a stem.  What’s kinda cool is that this puts them in the same family as lilies, orchids and palms.

The banana is also America’s favourite fruit by a huge margin but before you jump right in and think “sweet, I’m gonna drop my day job and become a banana farmer” (admit it, that’s what you were thinking!), banana farming is what some might call a total biatch!

Bananas are perennial so each year the plant produces flowers, which produce bananas but then the stem dies off and you have to wait for the bulb to produce a whole new 8 meter tall stem.  Yeah, how’s that for a job,…you spend months harvesting bananas like a  good farmer does and then you’ve got month upon month of heavy lifting to shift all the dead stems!  Suffice to say it’s a job best left to complete bananaphiles (sure,..it’s a made up word.).

On of the greatest things about bananas is how good they are for you.  I know it seems a little obvious to say that but the list of things that bananas are proven to help with is pretty impressive.  So far, and forgive me if I miss any, bananas can sort you out if you’ve got,…depression, PMS, anemia, high blood pressure, constipation, a hangover, heartburn, morning sickness, mosquito bites, nervousness, ulcers, high temperatures, seasonal affective disorder, stress, strokes and warts!

One last thing you have to mention when you’re discussing bananas (as you do), is the slapstick comedy value of slipping on a banana. Apparently, in 2001 there were 300 banana related injuries in Britain, mostly due to slipping on the peels.  Now I don’t know about this,..I’ve heard stories but I’ve never, never, ever actually seen anyone slip on a peel.  Please let me know if you have; I’d like to dismiss this myth forever!