Bananas!
Costa Rica’s banana
industry, now second to
the the tourism as the
country’s number one
earning industry,
continues to expand to
meet the demand of a
growing international
market.
Bananas have been part
of the Caribbean
landscape since 1870,
when American
entrepreneur Minor Keith
shipped his first fruit
stems to New Orleans. In
1899, his Tropical
Trading and Transport
Co. Merged with the
Boston Fruit Co. to form
the United Fruit Co.,
which soon became a
dominant force of the
political economies of
the "banana republics ".
By the 1920s, much of
the chaotic jungle south
of Puerto Limon has been
transformed into a vast
expanse of bananas.
Strikes were so frequent
that when Panama disease
and then Sigatoca
disease swept the region
in the 30s and 40s,
United Fruit took the
opportunity to abandon
its Atlantic
installations and move
to the pacific coast,
where it planted around
Golfito, Coto Colorado,
and Palmar (operated by
the Compañía Bananera).
Violent clashes with the
banana workers unions
continued to be the
company’s nemesis. In
1985, after the 72-day
strike, United Fruit
closed its operations in
southwestern Costa Rica.
Many of the plantations
where replaced by stands
of palma africana;
others are leased to
independent growers and
farmers cooperatives who
sell to United Fruit.
The Standard Fruit Co.
began productions in the
Atlantic lowlands in
1956. Standard Fruit
helped revive the
Atlantic coast banana
industry. Much of the
new acreage, however,
has come at the expense
of thousands of acres of
virgin jungles.
Here are some banana
facts you absolutely
cannot do without:
- Three medium-size
bananas weigh
approximately 1 pound.
- A cluster of bananas
is called a hand and
consists of 10 to 20
bananas, which are known
as fingers.
- As bananas ripen, the
starch in the fruit
turns to sugar.
Therefore, the riper the
banana, the sweeter it
will taste.
- 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.
- Bananas are a good
source of vitamin C,
potassium and dietary
fiber.
- Bananas are America's
#1 fruit.
- Bananas are available
all year-round. They are
harvested every day of
the year.
- Bananas are great for
athletic and fitness
activity because they
replenish necessary
carbohydrates, glycogen
and body fluids burned
during exercise.
- Bananas are not grown
commercially in the
continental United
States. They are grown
in Latin and South
America from countries
like Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Colombia,
Honduras, Panama and
Guatemala. |
