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The banana tree is
a monocotyledonian plant from the Musa origin. The main
varieties produced in the Canaries correspond a tripoid
of the Musa Acuminata species, although the varieties
"Gran enana", "Gruesa Platanera",
"Zelig", "Brier", and "Johnson
negra" are also produced. The best temperature for
the banana harvest is about 25 ¼C. and an altitude under
300m., only found in the Canaries. In addition the banana
needs good luminosity and a great deal of humidity, sandy
grounds with enough clay and slime, good porousness and
PH acid.
The seed season of the mother plant until the
banana plant is formed lasts about 10-12 months.
Once the banana bunch is made, some process as roping,
bagging and disflourishing are made.
The roping is made in order to prevent the plant from
falling down the banana bunch, weight, wind, or just for
protection. Nowadays, the bagging of the bunch is also
made and consisits of placing a plastic bag cover which
also favours the uniform falling of the fruit, prevents
from scourging and marks in the fields and transportation,
and this results in a much cleaner fruit. The process
of disflourishing consists of taking off one by one and
manually, the female flower(from which the banana is born)
at the end of each fruit and that consumers can appreciate
as a black area at the end of each piece. In the harvesting
process of the banana trees the use of
chemicals is minimized in favour to biological products
which results in a kind of fruit free of waste.
Source: Nutricional
research of the Canarian banana from the Physiology and
Nutritional Department of Universidad de Navarra.
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