THE MANY ASPECTS OF THE BANANA PLANT

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Musa species
FAMILY: Musaceae

One of the best known tropical fruits is the banana. But did you know there are seventy different species of bananas and that the plant produces more than the fruit itself? You will get a better picture of this versatile plant in the following story.

The banana plant comes from countries around the Equator; that is where the plant thrives. It is also, in Indonesia, a piece of the landscape. It appears in untidy groves in the dry low-lying, as well as in the cooler mountain regions. Because the harvest is not restricted to a season, you can enjoy this fruit the whole year round.

THE FRUIT
Every plant can produce bananas at an average of 5 to 10 kg. The bananas are hanging in big bunches downwards. Such a bunch has many hands and every hand will give 10 to 16 bananas. It all depends on the place they occupy in the bunch.

Of the seventy species, the banana with the name of "pisang Mas" (golden banana), is the smallest (length 1 thumb), and "pisang Tanduk" (stew banana), the biggest. This stew banana can reach a length and the thickness of an underarm.

On the whole you can divide the plants into 4 groups according to their profitability.
(a) The banana plant, which on account of its sublime taste, is of great value, e. g. the species: pisang Ambon (named after the island of Ambon and well-known sort), pisang Susu (milk banana), pisang Raja (monarch banana), pisang Mas (golden banana), pisang ban ten (bulky banana), pisang Badak (no translation available) and pisang Hijau (green banana).

(b) The banana plant where the taste only comes after it has been cooked or baked, e.g. pisang Tanduk (stew banana), pisang Manggala (named after the town Manggala), pisang Kapas (no translation available), and pisang Kepok (cottonwool banana). This banana comes in a white and yellow kind, small and somewhat orange-coloured. They taste a little sour and are only fit to be boiled.

(c) A third species of the banana plants are those where the value is not in the fruit itself, but in the trunk and/or leaves, e.g. pisang bidji (kernel banana), pisang Batu (stone banana) and pisang Klutuk (no translation available).

(d) And last, a group of banana plants with a value purely because they delight your eyes. They use the plant only to grace the garden or a park. Those species are: pisang Seribu (Wednesday banana) and pisang Kipas (fan banana). The Wednesday banana has a bunch that becomes 2-2½ metres long. This is narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. It gives the plant an architectural character. The fruits are not edible because of the many kernels it has. The fan banana is the only banana sort that does not produce fruit. The magnificent fan form is solely for decorative use.

Out of the ripe fruit is made a juice that is sold in tins. Also from certain ripe species a liqueur is brewed, and preserved bananas are not altogether unknown in some countries. In the kitchen, most of the ripe bananas are made in sweet dishes e.g. pisang goreng (fried bananas), pisang kolak (bananas in coconut milk and brown sugar), pisang nagasari (bananas in coconut milk jelly), kue pisang (little banana tarts) etc. And, last but not least the unripe banana can have its use as well. It can be dried and pulverised into flour. The dried form can be used also for krupuk (crackers) and kripik (chips).

THE FLOWER
Every banana plant can produce only one flower, therefore only one bunch can grow. The flower grows from out of the middle of the trunk downwards. When the flower has produced enough hands, it will fall off by itself, but mostly it is cut off beforehand. This will be better for the bunch of bananas, and besides, the flower can be of use. It tastes lovely made in a soup (sayor lodeh, vegetable soup made with herbs and coconut milk). The best use is the flower of the Kepok banana (cottonwool banana). Furthermore you can use the flower for atjars (Indonesian pickles) and made into sweets.

THE LEAVES
The leaves of the banana plant grow straight out of the trunk. Those gigantic leaves can have a length of 2 metres and a width of 50 to 70 cm. A strong nerve divides the leaf in two. From this big nerve are running little nerves.

The light green leaves are used for cattle fodder, especially in the dry season; this is of great benefit. When the leaves are brown and dead they are used as compost. The big strong dark green leaves are suitable for packing material, e.g. packing the tempeh (that is a cake made from fermented soyabeans). The leaves quicken the fermenting process and the cake does not stick to it. The leaves are also used for fermenting the roots of the cassava plant.

For culinary purposes, the banana leaves contribute to a savoury result, as in roasting, steaming and cooking and respectively in pepes (fish dish), brengkesan kelapa (cocosdish). and lontong (rice cooked in leaves).

And when you suddenly get surprised by a real tropical downpour, then the banana leaves are strong enough to protect you from the rain. The leaves of the pisang Klutuk, pisang Kepok or pisang Radja are most suited for 'umbrellas'.

In dried form, the banana leaves function as packing material for gulah merah (red sugar or palm sugar) or tobacco. It keeps it fresh much longer. The colour of the leaves are then yellow to brown.

THE TRUNK
The trunk of the banana plant consists of half-rings. It is soft to touch because of the moisture it contains. The circumference can be as much as 50 cm and the height 3 to 5 meters. The sap from the trunk forms the raw material for a varnish specially used for bamboo wood species. This raw material will then be mixed with soot.

Cut in very small pieces, the trunk is ideal for cattle fodder, and cut in lengths, for mulching. When you have been bitten by a snake, the moisture of the trunk neutralises the poison. In Bali, they use the young trunk (1 month old) to make a special soup (sayor ares). In Java, the dalang (one who does a puppet show) uses the trunk as a holder for his puppets (who are on a stick) during a show. Also, they stick flowers in a piece of trunk when there is a celebration. A piece of the trunk will be used in a funeral, to support the head of the deceased. In dry form, the trunk is excellent for packing tobacco.

THE ROOT
The main root of the banana plant is somewhat bigger than the trunk. From this main root the plant multiplies. Just as the trunk is good for soups, the main root is also used for this purpose. Because of the rich potassium content, the root is very good as compost. Burn the root, and the ash is suited as raw material for preparation of soda. The moisture of the root will be used in jamu (traditional medicine), excellent against stomach ache and enlarged tonsillitis, and also used as a medium for growing hair.

Every banana plant gives one bunch of bananas and does not grow anymore, but dies off. From the root, in the meantime, will grow 3 or 4 small banana plants. But it will take at least a year before those will produce bunches of bananas. When the ground is fertile, one generation of species can produce bananas for twenty years without decrease of quality in the fruit.

The banana plant is a multi-purpose, strong plant and through the manner of multiplying itself, it should not easily disappear from the landscape.

N.Th.van Gemert-Lapre
Story taken from a Dutch magazine called "Indonesia Naderbij"

DATE: November 1988

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