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The Canarian Banana
FMHOY - Platanodecanarias.net
Banana growing gets its origins from South East
Asia, between India and Malaysia. Around 500
years A.D., it arrived in Africa through Madagascar
and during the 6th century it developed on the Mediterranean
coasts and reached the Canary Islands
from Guinea with Portuguese conquests in Africa.
It is believed that the Spanish then introduced the
banana from the Canaries to America.
WHY ARE THE fLAvoUR AND PRoPERTIES of
THE CANARIAN BANANA So DIffERENT fRoM
THE CoMMoN BANANA?
Amongst the main differences, the Canarian Banana
has a greater degree of ripeness and can stay
longer on the tree than the tropical banana because
of the closeness between the banana farms and the
consumers.
Furthermore, the Canarian Banana has a higher
humidity rate which means that is has a lot more
flavour that the Common Banana which is dryer.
The carbohydrates, soluble sugars and sucrose
contained in the Common Banana are slightly higher
which explains its more floury texture than the Canarian
Banana which also contains more potassium.
Finally, the climate of the Canary Islands is more
variable than in Tropical Countries, which lengthens
the maturity process of the Canarian Banana in the
tree (6 months) compared to the common Banana
(3 months) and results in greater levels of maturity,
flavour and aroma.
Sources: Estudio nutricional del Plátano de Canarias
(Nutritional study of the Canarian Banana),
University of Navarre, Department of Physiology and
Nutrition. Estudio comparativo del valor nutritivo del
plátano canario y la banana americana (Comparative
study of the nutritional value of the Canarian Banana
and the American Banana), The Complutense University
of Madrid – Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of
Nutrition and Bromatology II.
CANARIAN BANANA fARMING
The banana tree is a monocotyledon plant from the
Musa family. The main varieties that are cultivated
in the Canary Islands are a triploid from the Musa
Acuminata species.
The optimum temperature for banana tree farming
is around 25ºC and the altitude should stay under
300 metres, those conditions can only be found in the
Canary Islands. Furthermore the banana tree requires
good luminosity, a fair amount of humidity and soil
with a sandy texture but that contains enough clay
and silt, good porosity and an acidic PH.
It takes about 10-12 months to go from the seeding
process of the mother plant to getting the first bunch.
13
Once the bunch has been produced, the processes of
tying, bagging and deflowering take place.
The tying is carried out in order to protect the plant
and stop it from falling because of the weight of the
bunch and the wind. The bagging of the bunch consists
in wrapping it in a plastic bag ensuring that the
fruit will fill in a uniform manner and protect it from
plague attacks and rubbing damage during harvest
and transport. The deflowering process consists in
taking away by hand one by one the female flowers
(which creates the banana) from each fruit.