Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-12-23
ELouR From HE BANANA.
One Acre WIN Furnish $4,000 Pna~ds OF
Good, Nutritious Food.

The manufacture of -four from ban
anas is growing industry in Cruird
America. Before il is ripe the.truit is
cut. sliced and dried in the sun. How
ever. a preferable method Is tu do The
dryine in an oven, because the quality
OF the. product depends mainly on HE
ouickness,of this process. The slices
ar. courSely ground aud sifled, iosm-
inc sort of farina. The dried slices
are hard. brittle and of horny ap-
neorance. The meal obtained FROM
Them, i'm the manner described is white
and sweet. with smell like uew-mown
hay. 1t is u very palatable and easily
digested food.
Attempts have been made To make
nurarnni out of this banana Hour SAYS
the Washington Star, but the stdiT al
WAYS falls to pieces when put into
warm water, Bread can he mnde
from it only by adding some Kind Of
meal that contains more gluten. The
fresh pulp furnishes about 20 per cent
of dry farina, and it is said that the
produce of bananas compared with
that Of wheat is as 1873 to Land TO that
of potatoes as Al 10 l. One acre of
ground will furnish over 20,UuJ pounds
of the lour.
The next annual report Of the de-
parlmenl Of agriculture, from proof
sheets of which the above facts are OBJ
tanned, makes mention of several other
methods by which bananas are re-
served They are dried very much as
igs are, the punches being cut when
fully ripe and exposed to the suu until
they commence to wrinkle. The skins
are then removed, for if they are not
peeled, a disagreeaDle flavor is inn
parted to the fruit. The latter are eX-
posed to the sun until crystals OF sugar
appear on their surface. Then they
are pressed into and wrapped with
leaves OF the plant or placed in boxes
and kept dry. They have been kept
in good condition in this way for many
years. Thi, method can only he
adopted in climates that are very dry.
In damp. tropical regions they are
prepared for drying 10y first rapidly
boiling the ripe frui, for u short time
in water that contains suiphale of
lime.
In some parts of Sos h America the
fruits are peeled. grated and the moist
ure expelled by pressure. The mass
is then baked in an oven, after which
it is ground into coarse kind of flour.
The latter is inferior, however, in nut
tritiye properties TO that obtained
from The dried Slices Bananas bnkrd
in their skins, then peeled and h1ied
in water are considered good ior
coughs and Inflammation of the lungs.
The Maays use a variety Of the same
fruit, which possesses tonic properties,
to arrest darrhea. In the Antilles
large quantities OF potash are obtained
from the ashes of the plant, which are
used TO wash clothes.
Many spirituous drinks are made
from the banana. Banana wine is OBJ
tanned in Cayenne by pressing the
fruit through sieve, after which it is
made into cakes, dried in the sun, and
dissolved in water when wanted for
use Nsae2ar is made by suspending
the fruit in baskets where it ljqueties,
and the juice collected soon becomes
vinegar In 1887 nearly 6,O0J0O0
lunches of bananas were imported in
20 the United States from Central
America In 1890 the importation
was ~, $50, $50 punches. The bananas
imported into the United States dur
ing the last fiscal year were worth S.
O0O,OJ0.