THE VALUE OF BANANAS

Evening Star, Issue 11606, 17 June 1902, Page 1

THE VALUE OF BANANAS

Uufortnnatelv, we do not get. our bananas in a ripe condition; like most tropical fruits which are exported, it has to be plucked before the, sun has finished Us glorious operation of converting the starch into sugar. This ripening process can only be properlv completed while the banana is part of'its living organism, the whole plant. It has often surprised me how few people realise this with ■ reference to fruits of every kind. Dealers will answer ones remark that a certain fruit is not ripe with “It will ripen in a few days/’ Very hard fruit may soften and mellow--may even need this in order to be palatable; but surely this is not ripening! Unripe fruit row,’, and is not fit for winter storage. To return, to our banana. “If,” says Herr Drummer, "some Brazilians have bad teeth, it must be dye. not to the banana, but 1o tbeir excessive love of sweetmeats and confectionery, and to .the quantities of hot native-grown tea.” The writer further «dves his experience as a fruitarian in this tropical region. He feels best when he works hardest.' He lives on from three to four bananas, five to six sweet oranges, throe times a day: at noon, in addition, a little grated cocoanut. This has been his diet for weeks together, but he varies his fruit with (he season. Only very seldom comes the old longing for a cooked vegetable. —‘The Vegetarian Messenger.’