The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-05-24
Eat More Bananas
By Frederick J. Haskin

1871 fSAGC GO EOtttONS anu al < diSGSll-
BILE when ripe. They are never cut of
season, and the supply will continue
large as long as the Germans confne
their submarine warfare to the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean. Americans
must learn to use bananas, not merely
as luxury, but as a staple food.
Almost the entire supply of bananas
eaten in the United States comes from
Jamaica, Central America and the
northern edge of South America. A
different species, known as Chinese
bananas, is shipped from Hawaii to the
Pacific coast, but the popularity of this
variety is small compared to that of the
golden yellow banana, known as the
'Gros Michel or Big Mike" which
is said at ''two-fo five" or sometimes
as low as 10 cents dozen at the fruit
stands of the Eastern coast.
Americans already eat millions of
bananas year as raw fruit, but our
capacity would be much larger, ac-
cording to the food economists, if we
would use it more extensively as d
cooked food There are many ways of
cooking bananas, and in most of the
lands where it grows fried and stewed
bananas are staple articles of diet. In
Porto Rico, for example, "Amarlllas
Fritas" Cried bananas) are as common
an item on restaurant menus as French
fried potatoes are in this country.
The banana contains as large a per-
centage of carbohydrates Starch and
sugar. as does the potato, and nearly
the same proportions of other consti-
tuents, with the exception of potash.
1t is not perfect substitute for the po-
tato, but it is very near it.
ITS GREAT FOOD VALUE.
The food value of the banana has
always been more appreciated in the
tenement districts than anywhere else
Here a dish of three or four fried
bananas often constitutes two thirds of
meal, and a boon to the New York
East Side is the penny banana small
and bruised, but nutritious fruit-sold
by the push-cart man.
Most American housewives do not
know how to cook bananas. For fried
bananas, peel and split the bananas; dip
each half into well beaten egg; then in
to fine bread crumbs, and fry in hot oil.
More dlgestible are baked bananas.
The fruit should be put into a baking
pan sprinkled with cinnamon, half cup
of sugar, pinch of salt, and tiny bits
OF butter. Pour into the pan half cup
OF water and basic frequently while
baking in quick oven. Lemon Juice
may be substituted for cinnamon, max
ing it into a syrup before baking, then
pouring over the fruit when placed in
the oven. Apples may be baked with
the peeled bananas, and the combina-
ton is delicious.
From time to time there have been
well-founded and important charges
that the banana was indgestible. In a
great many cases this is undoubtedly
true, but the fault lies with the condi-
ton of the fruit. Bananas are indi-
gestible only when Unripe. In recent
medical experiments, conducted bv
Victor c. Myers and Anton r. Rose of
New York, and published in the journal
of the American Medical Association,
patients were fed bananas and the re-
suits were noted. In no single case
when patient was fed sufficiently ripe
bananas was there any resulting dis.
comfort. One man was given a bread
and milk diet for one week, and bananas
and milk for a corresponding period,
and the subjective sensations expert.
enced were much more favorable to the
panama and milk than to the bread and
milk diet, " aver the doctors.
MUST BE PERFECTLY RIPE.
The great difficulty in securing ba-
nanas of precisely the right stage of
rlpeness. 1t is, of course, Just as un-
wise to eat them when they are so ripe
1AoI q SiSlI!Cdl ulSlDIeSTGllOn mas SET
in, but, on the other hand, there is no
doubt that the majority of Americans
eat them entirely too green. There
seems to be popular tendency to re-
frain from buying fruit with brownish
tint on the peel. People want their
bananas to be yellow. As it happens,
however. the yellow color is no indl-
cation that the fruit is sufficiently ripe.
In fact, says Drs. Myers and Rose,
under certain climatic conditions the
fruit may be entirely yellow and still
be so unripe that its consumption in
large amounts would be followed by
discomfort. " 1t is when the peel be-
comes golden instead of yellow and
sprinkled with specks of brown, that
the banana is ripe enough to eat in
perfect safety. Large brown patches
on the peel need not condemn the fruit,
either, so long as the inside pulp re-
mains firm and 'shows no signs of fer.
mentative decomposition