Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-05-19
Eat More Bananas
BIZ Frederic J. Hdskan

Washington, May l6.-Eat more bananas! MS
is the advice OF food experts. Bananas have al
most the same food value potatoes and are
digestible when ripe. They are never out Of sea-
son. Americans should 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 Amer
ica different species known as Chinese ba-
nanas, is shipped from Hawaii to the Pacific coast,
but the popularity of this variety is small COM
pared to that of the golden yellow banana. known
as the "Gros Michel" or Big Mike"
Americans already eat millions Of bananas a
year as raw fruit but Our capacity would be much
larger according to the food economists, If we
would use it more extensively as a 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. The banana
contains as large percentage OF carbohydrates
Starch and sugar. as does the potato and nearly
the same proportions of other constituents with
the exception of potash. 1t is not a perfect sub
stitute for the potato, but it is very near it.
Few American housewives know how to cook
bananas. For fried bananas, peel and split the
bananas, dip each half into well-beaten egg, then
into fine bread crumbs and fry in hot oil
More digestble are baked bananas Bananas
may be baked whole, one side of the skin being
stripped back in this case. or it may be peeled
and cut in halves. The fruit should be put in a
baking pan sprnked with cinnamon, half cup
OF sugar, pinch OF salt and tiny bits OF butter.
Pour into the pan half cup Of water and haste
frequently while baking in quick oven. Lemon
juice may be substituted for cinnamon, making it
into 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 we'll
La. InI n.I a.. A..
was indigestible. In great many cases this is
undoubtedly true, but the fault lies with the con-
dition Of the fruit. Bananas are ndgestible only
when unripe. In recent medical experiments con-
Quoted by Victor c. Myers and Anton R. Ross Of
New York and published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association patients were fed
bananas and the results noted. In no single case
when patient was fed sufficiently ripe bananas
was there any resulting discomfort. One man was
given a bread and milk diet for one week and
bananas and milk for corresponding period and
"the subjective sensations experienced were much
more favorable to the banana and milk than to
the bread and milk diet" aver the doctors,
The great difficulty is in securing bananas of
precisely the right stage Of ripeness. 1t is, of
course just unwise to cat them when they are
so ripe that chemical disintegration has set
in, but, on the other hand there is no doubt but
that the majority of Americans eat them entirely
too green. There seems to be popular tend
ency to refrain from buying fruit with brownish
tihts on the peel. People want their bananas to
be yellow. As it happens however, the yellow
color in no indication that the fruit is sufficiently
ripe "In fact" says Drs. Myers and Rose, "un-
der certain climatic conditions the fruit may be
entirely yellow and still be so unripe that its con-
sumption in large amounts would be followed by
discomfort" 1t is when the peel becomes golden
instead Of yellow and sprnked with specks of
brown that the banana is ripe enough to eat with
perfect safety
The bureau of home economics of the United
States Department of Agriculture has been able
to ascertain the precise point at which the ba-
mana is ripe enough to be palatable digestible and
nutritious. The various stages are best described
in the following schedules, which also may be of
some use to the average purchaser of bananas
This schedule, however, was not compiled by the
doctors who made the experiments already re-,
ferred to. Stages Of the bananas rpenirg as
shown by its appearance are: First very green;
second, greenish yellow, with pea green tip and
edges and bitter flavor; third, yellow except ex-
IRENE edges and tip, beginning of golden yellow,
bitter flavor almost gone; fourth, all yellow ex-
cept extreme tip, greenish cast to edges; fifth,
golden yellow greenish cast to edges, occasional
brown specks no herbaceous favor; sixth, full
golden yellow, with brown specks, strong amyl
acetate flavor; seventh, patches of light brown
shades; eighth, largely light brown.
II is better to let bananas ripen on the STEM
but il necessary buy them while yellow and let
them ripen afterwards, Under these circumstances
in cutting down the family board bill, the banana
both cooked and raw, deserves more careful at
tention.