Top Banana
Bananas are one of natures convenience foods, neatly packaged in their easy to peel skins. Bananas are versatile, nutritious, delicious, easy to eat raw or cooked & they are a good by at any time of year, especially in April & May when Caribbean bananas are at their peak.
Did you know a banana is in fact a herb & not a tree. It is a tropical plant & one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world.
Bananas are best eaten when they are fully ripe (uniform yellow skin), when they have a sweeter flavour are easier to digest. Bananas are ready to eat once peeled, no cooking or preparation time. But they are also excellent cooked in puddings, cakes & even some savoury dishes. A sprinkling of lemon juice prevents prepared fruit from browning, as well as enhancing the flavour.
Bananas are rich in carbohydrate, making them perfect food for a quick energy boost at any time of day. They contain a good mix of sugars, which are absorbed by the body at different speeds, giving an instant & long-lasting boost of energy. The vitamin content is highest when ripe & nearly all essential vitamins are present in the banana. Low in fat & sodium, they are also high in potassium which helps keep blood pressure levels stable.
If you lead a stressful lifestyle which makes it difficult to ensure a balanced diet including all the right vitamins & minerals, bananas provide a simple way of including those nutrients that may be in short supply.
