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Sunday, June 04, 2006
Bananas: Fruit? Herb? Berry? Freak of Nature?
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Many people know that tomatoes are not a vegetable, but a fruit. The tell-tale sign is the presence of internal seeds. Seeds are the key to understanding the strict scientific distinctions between fruits and vegetables.
This might also explain why most of the non-tomato ketchup recipes out there use fruits—and not vegetables—as their base. And if this concept (of non-tomato ketchup) strikes you as strange, it shouldn’t. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve seen that most Heinz and Hunts labels specify that they are selling tomato ketchup—a specification which implies the existence of other types.
So check out some of these fruity alternatives:
*Ancho Chile Ketchup
*Cherry Ketchup
*Cranberry Ketchup
*Peach Ketchup
*Banana Ketchup
Some of you might have paused to see me referring to a pepper as a fruit. But peppers fit the rule stated earlier: they have seeds on the inside. Same with eggplants, cucumbers, or even pumpkins. In cooking, these foods are treated like vegetables because they are not sweet like other fruits—but for the strict connoisseur those are the rules.
But here is where things get fuzzy regarding the banana.
Bananas don’t have seeds inside.
Some of you, loyal readers, might be thinking here about those brown specks you’ve seen when biting into a banana. But those are not seeds. At one time in the evolution of the banana, perhaps—but in this modern age bananas are not planted from banana seeds. Wikipedia has this bit of banana science:
While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, triploid (and thus seedless) cultivars have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. The plant is allowed to produce 2 shoots at a time; a larger one for fruiting immediately and a smaller “sucker” or “follower” that will produce fruit in 6–8 months time. The life of a banana plantation is 25 years or longer, during which time the individual stools or planting sites may move slightly from their original positions as lateral rhizome formation dictates. Latin Americans sometimes comment that the plants are “walking” over time.
Cultivated bananas are sterile (parthenocarpic), meaning that they do not produce viable seeds. Lacking seeds, another form of propagation is required. This involves removing and transplanting part of the underground stem (called a corm). Usually this is done by carefully removing a sucker (a vertical shoot that develops from the base of the banana pseudostem) with some roots intact. However, small sympodial corms, representing not yet elongated suckers, are hardier to transplant and can be left out of the ground for up to 2 weeks; they require minimal care and can be boxed together for shipment.
Further, due to the structure of the so-called banana tree itself, the entire plant is more properly known as an “herb.”
Does fruit grow on herb plants?
What is a banana?
It is technically known as a ”false berry,” but even so this designation resides in the fruit family. This makes the banana the only official fruit without internal seeds.
Bananas truly stand in a class of their own.
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04 Jun 2006 at 09:11 am | #
I like politics as much as the next guy, but I must say I appreciate a break from all the corruption every once in a while. Thanks, Dean, for this quirky look at the everyday!
04 Jun 2006 at 09:20 am | #
That’s preposterous! There must be some type of science that supports bananas falling into the category of fruit.
04 Jun 2006 at 09:22 am | #
At least we don’t have Pete Rose saying, “them bananas are good”!
04 Jun 2006 at 09:24 am | #
I believe firmly that the banana has been mischaracterized. Just because it has a bulky non-meat and sweet tasting food substance in an entity that grows off of a plant does not make it a fruit.
Fruits have seeds.
Well, at least, sort of…
I’m still having trouble understanding the berry debate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry
Looks like tomatoes are berries and strawberries are not!
04 Jun 2006 at 10:48 am | #
Andrew Warner picks up the controversy with a freakazoid religious banana video:
http://www.andrewwarner.org/2006/06/bananas-reveal-mysteries-of-world.html
04 Jun 2006 at 11:11 am | #
This isn’t even an argument. Mama said bananas are fruit. So they are fruit.
04 Jun 2006 at 12:14 pm | #
Dean, you have just rocked my world. I need confirmation that this isn’t a hoax. Maybe you should set up an interview with someone at Chiquita, they are experts in the feild and are located downtown. Maybe they will have to change their advertizments. Bananas: the new falseberry herb!
04 Jun 2006 at 12:18 pm | #
Chuck, that is a great idea!
Do you think someone at Chiquita—even if just a low level relations representative—would be willing to get on the record about the new falseberry herb?
I think it would be fun to stage a video interview, an in-depth investigation into the identity of the yellow edible thing that hangs from a plant that looks like a tree!
04 Jun 2006 at 12:32 pm | #
It would be free publicity for them, maybe they could turn it into an add campaign. I doubt they would need a high level scientist to explain their position on this delicious and nutritious yellow wonder. Maybe our video would get the networks interested in this new controversy.
04 Jun 2006 at 12:52 pm | #
You are right. This could make a nice jingle. Maybe I’ll lay down some tracks and sing later!
04 Jun 2006 at 01:04 pm | #
The Dean’s Hot New Single: Bananas!
04 Jun 2006 at 02:15 pm | #
I don’t get it. Are Boy Wonder and The Dean mounting some kind of world tour? What do songs and bananas have to do with anything? I’ve been looking at this, and reading the enthusiasm in the comments, and I just don’t get it. What did I miss?
05 Jun 2006 at 07:30 am | #
interesting
05 Jun 2006 at 11:05 am | #
Did you know that we had never seen a banana until big business invaded Guatemala in the 1950s?