You see them piled in heaps in the supermarket or resting in the fruit bowl in your kitchen. Everybody knows about the banana. It is one of the most popular fruits.

• There are many sizes, shapes, and colors of bananas—even red ones. Usually, though, we find three types of bananas, all with different flavors, in our grocery stores—green-tipped, full yellow, and yellow speckled with brown sugar spots.

• The average person eats about twenty pounds of bananas a year.

• The banana is an herb—the tallest herb in the world, growing up to twenty-five feet high.

• In about twelve to fifteen months, the plant sends out a huge bud. Inside the bud are rows of small flowers, which turn into green bananas. There can be as many as several hundred bananas in one bud.

• Bananas are harvested green. As they ripen, their skin changes to yellow because of the buildup of natural ethylene gas in the peel.

• Bananas are a source of vitamins A and C, phosphorus, and potassium.

• In years past, “gbana” and “banna” were some names given to bananas. Some people called them “funanas,” which seems an appropriate name today for these fat-fingered, fun fruits.

BANANA BREAD

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:
1. Oil two 77/8” x 37/8” loaf pans with cooking spray and preheat oven to 375° F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the oil, honey, and vanilla.
3. Beat the eggs and add them to the oil mixture, stirring well.
4. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas and add to the honey mixture.
5. Add the soda, salt, and half of the flour and blend until the batter is moist.
6. Mix in the remaining flour.
7. Fold in the nuts.
8. Divide the batter in half and spread it into the two loaf pans.
9. Bake for 1 hour.
10. Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool on a wire rack.