Going bananas

 Bananas grow here in the Philippines and we have several banana trees in our garden. One tree next to our wall had a big bunch almost ripe, and sure enough someone harvested it last night. Oh well.

Archeology magazine article on the history of fruit note that the banana was first domesticated in New Guinea.

from the History Guy:

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UCSC article here:

From New Guinea, the Kuk domesticated variety appears to have spread to the Philippines, and then radiated widely across the tropics. Researchers find it difficult to trace the diffusion of the banana after its arrival in the Philippine islands, and in many cases, it appears the banana was introduced into areas only to be reintroduced, and in a sense, rediscovered, hundreds or thousands of years later.

Adding to the confusing tangle of banana proliferation is the parallel development of hybrid fruits.

Human ingenuity manipulated the seedless, and thus asexual, forms of domesticated bananas into hybrids by careful techniques of culling and planting that fused and refined different domesticated varieties.  hey are usually spread via plants. The bad news: it makes them more vulnerable to various blights/diseases. 

Treehugger has an article on why the Cavandish banana replaced the Gros Michel version most commonly eaten in the USA in the 1950s.

the plantain’s major importance as a crop during the ancient and early modern world, whether on large-scale or small-scale farms, was a major staple for local consumption. Even in the case of Japanese production, where banana plants were cultivated for use in textiles and not as a foodstuff, the banana was grown for local markets. By the 1800s, and especially into the early twentieth century, shifts in modes of production and consumption moved the banana from a local to a global commodity.

 of course, in many countries the non sweet version are eaten. Healthline discusses the difference between these non sweet varieties, called Plantains, and what we call bananas.

and yes, banana plants are used in traditional Filipino textiles.

Banana textiles? Yup.