Bananas

Bananas are a well-known and popular tropical fruit. They most likely got their name from the Arabic word for finger, ‘banan’. There are a few different types of bananas, like red bananas with their yellow-pink skin and flesh, and small sugar bananas that are about 3 inches long. However, the most common type in the UK is the Cavendish or dessert bananas, which come from Latin America.

Bananas are full of good things for our bodies, like potassium, riboflavin, niacin, and fiber. They also have a lot of sugar, which gives us quick energy and makes them a great snack.

Availability
You can find bananas at the store all year round. You can also learn how to grow bananas from experts.

Choose the best
When choosing a banana to eat right away, look for ones with small patches of black on the skin – that means they’re ripe. Otherwise, pick yellow ones with a little green on the ends. You can ripen them at room temperature. If the banana is green all over, it’s not ripe yet, and you can’t eat it.

Prepare it
To prepare a banana, simply peel it and cut it into slices or mash it up.

Store it
You can store bananas in a fruit bowl, but don’t put them in the fridge because they’ll turn black and make your other food smell like bananas.

Cook it
Bananas are good for cooking, too! You can mash them up to make banana bread or add them to smoothies. To make a tasty dessert, wrap a banana in foil with lemon juice, butter, muscovado sugar, and a splash of rum or cognac and bake it for 20 minutes. You can also try grilling a banana with some sugar and lemon juice for a yummy snack or a side dish to go with gammon or fish.

Alternatives
If you’re looking for something different, you can try plantains too! They’re similar to bananas but are usually cooked instead of eaten raw.

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