BANANA

The banana is one of the most ancient of food plants, having been used, and perhaps cultivated, at the dawn of recorded history. It is a perennial herb with a height of 2-9 meters. The time to shooting is 7-9 months, and the time from shooting to harvesting is about 90 days. The fruit is a berry. The individual fruits are sometimes called fingers each cluster of fruits is called a hand and the fruit bunch is called stem. A bunch of banana may contain 5-15 hands with 5-20 fingers each. The size, shape, skin color, and the flavor, texture and color of the flesh vary with the cultivars (or varieties). Many varieties are grown in Malaysia. The banana is nutritionally similar to potato; the calorific value being about 100 calories per 100 grams. It has also a good content of vitamin A and fair in vitamin C.