RE: Oranges and other fruits

["Misty Boyer" <scadianchick@hotmail.com>]

Poster: "Misty Boyer" <scadianchick@hotmail.com>

Rise J.Peters posted:

>I had the delightful experience of eating non-modern bananas in the >Canary
Islands a few years ago.  They had a wonderful, intense banana >taste, but go
from unripe to overripe in a matter of hours (and are >only six inches long),
and thus aren't commercially viable. 
>
>Anyone know when and where bananas first show up?

Bananas were native to Asia, being found in India, Southern China, and around
the Malay Archepelago.  They arrived in Africa around 500 AD.  They had large
seeds, taking from 1/4 up to 1/2 of the fruit, and these varieties can still be
found growing in the wild.

Documentation of the banana extends to before the birth of Christ.  In the 3rd
century, Pliny wrote of Alexander the Great seeing the sages of India eating
them.  They turn up in the Koran, where the plant is referred to as "the tree
of paradise".  They were supposedly found when Caesar was alive, but were
considered unfit for human consumption.  Also, in one of the legends of Burma,
he says that humans first considered bananas when they saw birds eating them.

Hope that helps!!!

************************************************************
Marianne de Bisclavaret
of the Shire of Drachentor
Protectorate of the Barany of Sacred Stone
************************************************************

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