bananas...

I hate cooked bananas.. I usually just use them as snacking fruit or I put them in banana pudding. Can't stand to use them any other way.

Banana is the common name used for herbaceous, cultigenic plants in the genus Musa, which, because of their size and structure, are often mistaken for trees. Bananas are green when they are picked, yellow when they are ripe, and brown or black when they rot. Bananas are cultivated for their fruit which bear the same name, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. Bananas are of the family Musaceae. Globally, bananas rank fourth after rice, wheat and maize in human consumption; they are grown in 130 countries worldwide, more than any other fruit crop. Bananas are native to tropical southeastern Asia but are widely cultivated in tropical regions. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to the soft, sweet "dessert" bananas that are usually eaten raw. The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit, generally used in cooking rather than eaten raw, are typically known as plantains. Bananas may also be dried and ground into banana flour. The main or upright growth is called a pseudostem, which when mature, will obtain a height of 2–8 m (varies between different cultivars), with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem produces a single bunch of bananas, before dying and being replaced by a new pseudostem. The base of the plant is a rhizome (known as a corm). Corms are perennial, with a productive lifespan of 15 years or more. The term banana is applied to both the plant and its elongated fruit (technically a false berry) which grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand), and 3-20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content. Bananas are a valuable source of Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, and potassium. Although the wild species have fruits with numerous large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have seedless fruits. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas. Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10-15% of all production is for export, with the U.S. and EU being the dominant buyers. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colours; most cultivars are yellow when ripe but some are red or purple-ish. The ripe fruit is easily peeled and eaten raw or cooked. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can be starchy to sweet, and firm to mushy. Unripe or "green" bananas and plantains are used in cooking and are the staple starch of many tropical populations. Most production for local sale is of green cooking bananas and plantains, as ripe dessert bananas are easily damaged while being transported to market. Even when only transported within their country of origin, ripe bananas suffer a high rate of damage and loss. The commercial dessert cultivars most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa × paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics. They are popular in part because being a non-seasonal crop they are available fresh year-round. In global commerce, by far the most important of these banana cultivars is 'Cavendish', which accounts for the vast bulk of bananas exported from the tropics. The Cavendish gained popularity in the 1950s after the previously mass produced cultivar, Gros Michel, was being destroyed by Panama disease, a fungus which attacks the roots of the banana plant. It is common for fruit exports to contain minor traces of chemicals from their home countries, as has been the recent case within the Russian village of Kholuy. Minor traces of the radioactive substance trininite were spread by the wind over the town's main banana field; however, no serious problems occured. Also, the common case for fruit exports is for them to be dominated by a single or very few cultivars. The most important properties making 'Cavendish' the main export banana are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars rarely have a superior flavour compared to the less widespread cultivars. Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in ripening rooms when they arrive in their country of destination. These are special rooms made air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed", however, and may show up at the supermarket still fully green. While these bananas will ripen more slowly, the flavour will be notably richer, and the banana peel can be allowed to reach a yellow/brown speckled phase, and yet retain a firm flesh inside. Thus, shelf life is somewhat extended. The flavour and texture of bananas are affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 °C (57 and 59 °F) during transportation. At lower temperatures, the ripening of bananas permanently stalls, and the bananas will turn grey. Certain banana cultivars turn red or purplish instead of yellow as they ripen. Certain banana cultivars turn red or purplish instead of yellow as they ripen. It should be noted that Musa × paradisiaca is also the generic name for the common plantain, a coarser and starchier variant not to be confused with Musa acuminata or the Cavendish variety. Plantains have all but replaced the Cavendish in markets dominated by supply-side logistics. In addition to the fruit, the flower of the banana plant (also known as banana blossom or banana heart) is used in Southeast Asian, Bengali and Kerala (India) cuisine, either served raw with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used, notably in Burmese, Bengali and Kerala cooking. Bananas fried with batter is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Banana fritters can be served with ice-cream as well. The juice extract prepared from the tender core is used to treat kidney stones. The leaves of the banana are large, flexible, and waterproof; they are used in many ways, including as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking. Chinese zongzi (bamboo leaves are more commonly used where available) and Central American tamales are sometimes steamed in banana leaves, and the Hawaiian imu is often lined with them. Puerto Rican "pasteles" are boiled wrapped and tied inside the leaf. Banana chips are a snack produced from dehydrated or fried banana or, preferably, plantain slices, which have a dark brown colour and an intense banana taste. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. Unlike other fruits, it is difficult to extract juice from bananas because when compressed a banana simply turns to pulp. Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana), considered to be one of the forerunners of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia. It is reported that in Orissa, India, juice is extracted from the corm and used as a home remedy for the treatment of jaundice. In other places honey is mixed with mashed banana fruit and used for the same purpose.

I like bananas raw or cooked or used in recipes. I like them in smoothies, breads, mixed into cereal and oatmeal, and used in desserts in place of some of the fat.

I like to eat raw bananas, also it taste good in whipped cream with others fruits.. and add to it some lemon juice...:)

we love bananas. its says to be good for health too.. we sometimes eat it after meal. for raw bananas.. we sugar coat it.. yum-yum!

I OFTEN EAT BANANAS!I LIKE THEM :)

The only ways I can stand bananas are baked in banana bread or sliced up on cold cereal with milk. I could never just pick up a whole banana and eat it. There's something about the texture of a banana that I don't really like. I know a lot of people who eat 1-2 whole bananas every day!

I eat bananas only in a banana milk shake. That to should be made with less of banana and more of milk otherwise I cannot have that either. I really dont like bananas.

even bananas are also sliced and dried up to make banana chips ...i had once really very tasty