Taxonomy, Characteristics, Varieties, and Food Uses of Banana - Essay Example

A Banana Available throughout the year in tropical countries, bananas come in different varieties, shapes, and colors. Mistakenly referred to as a tree, bananas are the fruit of an herb that has grown from a rhizome, stretched through a thick stem, and developed flowers (“banana”). A banana’s variety of uses makes it one of the most valued crops in the world. The fruit’s nutritional value and relatively low price make it an attractive export product for countries in Southeast Asia, South America, and East Africa (Morton 37).

This essay describes the taxonomy, characteristics, varieties, and food uses of bananas. Bananas come from the “genus Musa of the family Musaceae” (“banana”), and the seedless, edible ones come from the “species M. acuminata Colla or the hybrid M. X paradisiaca L.” (Morton 30). The different species of banana provide a clue to the fruit’s geographical origins, which are usually found in countries with tropical climates like Brazil, India, and Indonesia. Having various hybrids, meanwhile, further expands the fruit’s varieties and ensures continuous cultivation and propagation.

Bananas are classified into major groups, such as Sucrier and Gros Michel, the Cavendish subgroup, and other cultivars (Morton 35). Mostly found in Colombia, the Philippines, and Burma, bananas from the Sucrier group are small in size, mostly sweet, and covered in thin skin (Morton 35). Due to their size and taste, bananas from this group are readily consumable and incorporated into dessert recipes. The Gros Michel group produces bananas that are larger than the ones in the Sucrier group, yellow in color, and usually found in South America, Central Africa, and the Caribbean (Morton 36).

The Cavendish subgroup, meanwhile, includes the Giant Cavendish, Dwarf Cavendish, and Bungulan (Morton 37). Medium-sized, thin-skinned, and delicate, the Dwarf Cavendish is usually found in China, East Africa, and South Africa. The Giant Cavendish is larger than Dwarf Cavendish, and closely resembles the Gros Michel (Morton 37). Riping unevenly during winter and prone to storage spoilage, Bungulan is mostly used for cooking in Jamaica (Morton 38). Banana uses for food are as diverse as their varieties and hybrids.

Eat raw, a banana is peeled, sliced, or mixed with other fruits. Bursts of sweetness and undertones of tanginess are released from biting the soft, starchy flesh of a banana. Broiled or baked ripe bananas can be served with peanuts and brown sugar (Morton 41). When added to dessert recipes, a banana’s flavor and mushy texture harmonize with the more crunchy and soft ingredients. Finally, a banana can be preserved by boiling and immersing it in a syrup mixture. Aside from the various food uses of bananas, the fruit is said to possess “high nutritional value” (“Banana”).