Bananas – Dale’s Daily Data

What do you know about bananas?  First of all – they’re America’s favorite fruit.  Americans eat more bananas than any other fruit - an average of about 30 pounds a year.  Over 96 percent of American households buy bananas at least once a month and for good reason – they have just about everything your body needs – all 8 amino acids we can’t produce ourselves.  Plus bananas have fiber, potassium and vitamin C.  And they have no fat, cholesterol or sodium.

And strange that America's favorite fruit doesn't even grow here.  Most of the bananas we buy come from Central or South America.  And they’re grown year round and harvested every day of the year.

We're always taught that Adam and Eve were tempted by the apple, but some scientists think that bananas were the earth's first fruit. One of the first records of bananas dates back to Alexander the Great where he discovered bananas in India in 327 B.C.  

A cluster of bananas is called a hand.  Each of the between 10 and 20 bananas on the hand are known as fingers.  

Banana plants are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem. They are actually giant herbs of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms.  

100 billion bananas are consumed every year making it the fourth largest agricultural product in the world.  Only rice, wheat and corn rank higher.

The phrase 'going bananas' was first recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary, and is linked to banana’s connection with monkeys.  

Chiquita was originally known as the United Fruit Company.  The company headquarters is in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. 

An old wives' tale says one of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

SOURCE: todayifoundout.com