Banana trees are one of my favorite addition to an edible landscape , an exotic visual that I sure enough miss from my oldgarden in Southern California . The large leaves provide shade and the stalking produce delicious yield ( otherwise make out as banana “ digit ” ) twelvemonth - orotund . In fact , theword banana comes from the Arabicbanan , meaning finger . ( The early banana was only the size of a homo ’s finger ! )
And while they ’re usually referred to as trees , bananas are technicallyplants — or more accurately , herbaceous perennials . Yes , abanana plant is an herbaceous plant !
In a nursing home garden , banana tree works are very humbled - maintenance , attract few plague and need no pruning ( just remove the stalk after you harvest the entire banana bunch ) . But one offspring from time to time comes up : cracked skin on bananas .
Why does this happen and how you may stop it ?
Why bananas split and get cracked skin
The intellect your homegrown bananas are splitting open on the clump is usually because they ’re overripe . Bananas should be harvested when they ’re still gullible , and then left to mature on the retort at elbow room temperature .
How do you know when it ’s time to glean ?
look into the finger ( the individual banana tree ): As the fruit senesce , the fingers get fat but stay green . About four hebdomad after the finger stop growing , they should be quick for harvesting . The banana should be embonpoint and firm , and the little flowers on the end should be completely dry or scratch off easily . When at least 75 pct of the bunch has attain this point , cut off the entire bunch and let the banana ripen off the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
There may be a few banana that are already bend yellowish , and that ’s hunky-dory . As long as the absolute majority of the bunch is still green , the chances of those bananas splitting ( before you ’re quick to eat them ) is slender .
If you have the banana continue ripen on the tree diagram , they ’re more prostrate to carve up open ( and becoming kind of dry and cottony in eubstance ) .
The fruits can be eaten when they ’re partially green , though most people wait until they ’re yellow or even streak with brown spot . During the ripening process , the skin alter from morose green to light gullible to yellow as the starch in the fruit is converted to sugar . Bananas that are fully browned on the exterior are actually at peak sugariness — though this is when they ’re usually composted , cooked , or immobilise to cook with by and by .
Try this : Choco Banana Date cooky aka Breakfast in a Bite
Another reason banana skin may crock up opened is temperature . While banana Tree like systematically lovesome , humid weather , they suffer under temperature extreme point . The peel may split when exposed to high temperature combined with high relative humidity .
This physiologic disorder affects certain variety of bananas and can occur if there ’s a sudden heat spell in your garden , or if you get lots of rainfall in a short period of time , or if you leave your bananas in a plastered plastic bag in a warm way ( make a nursery effect).This studypoints to the sugars in the human body pulling wet from the peel , causing bananas to split at eminent relative humidity .
The peel - splitting phenomenon also sham store - bought bananas . Though they ’re unremarkably hive away on the cool side of room temperature to ripen , the peel may start to collapse if the bananas were uncover to higher temperature during transit or processing .
Is it safe to eat bananas that split open?
If you left your banana tree on the tree diagram a little too long , glean them as soon as potential . leave alone fruit to ripen too much makes them more susceptible to pests like birds , squirrels , or worm .
Inspect the banana for sign of the zodiac of mold , bunk , or any oozy liquid . face for gadfly along the rip skin . Do a quick odour check — the yield should be inert to sweet - smell . If your banana pass all these tests , then they ’re safe to eat , crack cutis and all .
you could peel the banana and cut off the part under the cracked cutis , if you think it needs to be discarded — but unless it bear witness obvious damage , there ’s no need to remove it .
