WHEN IS A BANANA TOO RIPE?

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5372, 3 September 1904, Page 12

WHEN IS A BANANA TOO RIPE?

Considering the proportions to which the use of the fruit has attained, it is a matter/of no small importance to settle not only when bananas are in the best condition for consumption, but also as to when they have passed the stage for which' they are. fit for human food. In their native countries they are seldom eaten before the skin is discoloured, and the pulp of so soft a consistency that it can be scooped out wijh a spoon. Under the artificial conditions they are placed, in these climes they undergo somewhat rapid changes, and the times at which they are best suited for consumption may be short and difficult to predict with any degree of precision. Authorities, however, claim that they are habitually eaten here before they have reached their most suitable stage. Before they are thoroughly matured, moreover, they are apt to be insipid in flavour, and to cause dyspepsia, and other forms of intestinal disturbances. They should not bo eaten before the skin is blackened in places, or when there is any reluctance in the skin to separate from the pulp. Housekeepers know how bananas will change in the course of a single night from the manifestly, sound condition to one in which the skin is blackened and

the pulp soft and slightly discoloured. Now, children, infinitely prefer these last bananas to those that are apparent!; sounder, although their elders may hesitate to gratify their tasto in this re spect from a fear as to the wholesome ness of such fruit. Attacks of gastric or intestinal disturbance from the use of unsound bananas are far from common, and it may well be that in this instance the natural inclination of the child covers more wisdom than the caution of its elders; in fact, experts say that the banana, like the medlar, can hardly bf in too ripe a condition for eating.