Did you know that, statistically, everyone in Germany eats approximately 13kg of bananas each year? This is not surprising as bananas are delicious, filling, suitable for children and anyone with a sensitive stomach, and they also come ‘pre-packaged’ for
banana has only been in Europe since 1885; this evergreen perennial originally comes from the islands in South East Asia, and today is cultivated in the tropics and subtropics. There are approximately one hundred varieties of banana, with a distinction made between dessert bananas and plantains (cooking bananas).
Unusually, this fruit is always harvested when green. A bunch, which has ten to twelve ‘hands’ (35 to 50 kilograms), is cut off with a machete. Each ‘hand’ comprises ten to 20 ‘fingers’, as the individual bananas are known.