- It is the most widely consumed fruit in America, taking the reign away from apples decades ago.
- You can buy them for 79 cents per lb or less. When compared to the price decades ago, even with inflation, the price of bananas is much cheaper now than it used to be.
- Supermarkets wont raise the price of bananas even if they lose profit off the fruit. The price of bananas is a major draw for consumers when choosing which supermarket to shop in. If prices of bananas are raised, then they may lose business.
- The type of banana consumed today is called the Cavendish banana. In the 1880s and 90s when the fruit was first imported, it was the Gros Michel banana that was grown. The Panama disease, a parasitic fungus, wiped out this species back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Bananas were also the first fruit to be shipped over the ocean.
- The reason why every single banana looks and tastes almost identical – banana plants reproduce asexually. In order to plant a new banana plant, a farmer removes part of the existing plant, called a ‘sucker’, and plants it in the ground. It grows into a genetically identical plant so every banana plant acts in the same predictable manner – same rate, same abundance, and same ripening time.
source: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11320900/banana-rise