Lovely Bunch of Ripe Banana (Day-O)
6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot bunch! What does that even mean? Fingers? Hands? Bunches? Bananas can be confusing, but we are about to decode some banana lingo for you!
The trunk of a banana “tree” is actually many leaves wrapped tightly around a single stem which emerges at the top of a fruit bearing flower stalk. The fruit “fingers” grow in clumps known as hands and are called fingers because they look like fingers attached to hands! The entire stalk is known as a “bunch” and takes up to a year to be ready to be harvested. After it is harvested and shipped to your grocery store, Americans consume an annual average of 28 pounds of bananas per person!
Secret: Although referred to as banana “trees”, they are not! They are a perennial herb.