BANANA BUNCHES

Evening Star, Issue 21632, 30 January 1934, Page 7

BANANA BUNCHES

AMERICA'S WAY

* FRUIT HOT SEVERED “ Yes, we have uo bananas on the stalk, hut look at these tied in bunches with nice twine 1” That is probably what the vender of bananas would say, in English dr pidgin English, if he were asked in Now Zealand to supply bananas in hunch or freshly-cut from the bunch. Yet it is alleged that a bunch life from the plantation to the retail shop is necessary to secure the best bananas; that the banana continues to make use of its stalk if not severed therefrom; and that banana-vending methods in the South Pacific are miles behind methods in America. This question, but without any information of comparative costs, is discussed by Mr M. W. Von Bernewitz, who writes to a Sydney paper asking why the practice followed in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand is to handle bananas cut from the stalk, instead of handling the whole bunch. “ Why go to the labour and expense of cutting each banana or ‘ finger ’ off the stalk and hand, packing them in crates, which 'are not cheap, and unpacking, placing, and ripening them in shop windows? Surely this is an expensive system? Besides, shop windows are hardly the place for ripening bananas. 1 have yet to buy bananas that have that soft feel and mellow flavour, after passing through the process mentioned. 1 have questioned several persons regarding tho matter, but their answers are not convincing. One answer is that the bananas are graded by this means; but cannot this be done by cutting them off tho stalk in a shop as required? Another answer is that hunches cannot be handled as such, there being wastage through breakage of fruit. Let me tell how bananas are handled in the United States, up to 30,000,000 bunches in a good year. “ Bananas consumed in the United States come from Hawaii, West Indies, and Central America. The firstnamed yields but , a fraction of the last. 1 travelled on one steamer that had 5,000 Hawaiian bunches on deck. They were wrapped in' rice straw and leaves of the banana tree: The United Fruit Company, whose headquarters are at Boston, . Massachusetts, and whose banana ramifications include Cent Val America, West Indies, United States, England, and Europe, refrigerator ships, railways, and { accessories, handled 230,000,000 bunches during a period of ten years. Front the banatta plantation to the consumer the frujt is kept on the stalk. Bunches, always cut green, are carried from the trees to tramways on the shoulders of natives or on mule-back, then to railways on Hat, cars, the bananas, lying, on and covered with leaves.. Transfer ’ is next made to box-cars,, the hunches packed with leaves. When trains ar-; rive at the stfeamers .lying" at Central 1 American and West Indian ports, they are, loaded either by, short conveyors operating between the; trains arid ships, or. by hand. In the holds, experienced labourers stow each size of Hunch separately, arid on, the butt of the stalk in tiers. Here, ventilation and ■ attention to temparature are necessary. . On arrival in the. United States, three southern ports are equipped with unloading., machines, which are really canvas elevators. ,At eastern ports all unloading is done liy hand.. The bananas are placed in railroad. cars, and distributed all over the country. During each of these movements the fruit. is carefully inspected. No fruit is dumped or destroyed unless it is unfit to eat. On arrival at certain interior distribution points, the banana agent trucks the bunches oh hay or straw to the ripening rooms. The bunches are hung from ceiling hooks by the opposite end ’to which they grow/which also is the way they are hung in shops, the butt downward. Ventilation and temperature must be attended to in the ripening rooms. Some banana agents use ethylene oxide gas to hasten the process of ripening. Finally, the bananas are ready for, the retail trade. So, from- the plantation to the shop the bunch has been handled intact, with perhaps one or . two' bananas broken off, by native and by common labour.

“With regard to the ripening process, this is a vita] phenomenon resulting from the changes takings place within the cells of the banana the starch in the green fruit Is, gradually converted into sugar. During this process, one of respiration, bananas absorb oxygen and exude carbon dioxide. They should not he severed from the stalk or the 1 hand ’ that holds the ‘ fingers,’ because until fully ripe, the fruit is practically a living organism drawing sustenance from the stalk, with sap flowing and tissues changing, and. heat is generated within the fruit in the ripening process. Bananas so ripened develop a high quality of colour, firmness, flavour, and food value requisite in the matured product. How much nicer is it to have the bananas one selects in a shop cut off the stalk by a specially-designed knife, which does not tear the skin and expose the pulp, than to have them probably indifferently ripened and picked out from a window.”