peeling the bananas the right way ~ the monkey way !!!

Bananas are one of most liked and most consumed fruits  ~ a  banana peel, known as a banana skin in British English, is the outer covering of the banana fruit. Banana, that delicious fruit is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce.  Interestingly, bananas do not grow from a seed but from a bulb or rizhome.  Most parts of the tree would be of use.  The flower appearance is the most looked for thing. Bananas come in various shapes, sizes, colours and tastes also.  They could be yellow, purple, red and green. The varieties that one get to see in local market are green, nendran, rasthali, puvan, robusta, red, hill, karpoora valli and of late G9 and more…. The area closer to Triplicane – the congested Zambazaar,  is a prime market place for bananas. Have seen banana plantations alongside river Tamarabarani as also around Kaveri in Trichy.

In Tamil Nadu, eating in a banana leaf is fulfilling and traditionally food is served on big banana leaf on ceremonial occasions. You could have heard of the ‘toungue twister’  ~ “வாழைப்பழ  தோல் வழுக்கி வாலிபர் உயிர் ஊசல்”  (‘Vazhaipazha thoal vazukki vaalibar uyir oosal’) – in Tamil you have this ‘zha’ (ழ) uncommon to other languages and not many pronounce this too well [you hear of them so often in TVs and Radios]. Banana peels are used as feedstock as they have some nutritional value. Tripping over banana peel has been slapstick comedy in many Tamil movies as also in some English movies. 

The outer layer is peeled before eating that delicious part – the simplest and most effective way to peel a banana is by using the convenient "handle" on one end of the fruit. However, this conventional method smashes the top of the fruit and perhaps there could be a better method.   People may never get bored of eating a banana but could be bored of ripping it open without messing it all over. 

Here is something from Daily Mail which suggest that the conventional way that we have been doing for centuries, perhaps is not the right way !- and surprisingly, the Chimp is accustomed to opening the other way. Perhaps the monkeys knew it all along – not following what humans did for ages. 

One would not imagine that after millions of years of evolution, humans have not cracked the simple task of peeling a banana. The best way to do it, contrary to how most us have been taught, is just like our predecessor monkey friends do: upside down. YouTube user Crazy Bananas - a comical mystery male wearing monkey underwear - uploaded an enlightening video demonstration of this life hack, and shows that pinching the opposite (non-stem) end of a banana will split the skin swiftly into two segments, making peeling easy - and bruise free. The monkey method certainly beats trying to snap off a particularly stubborn stem and making a squishy mess of it; and as an added bonus, this technique leaves the stem intact for use as a handle - nature's offering of a Popsicle stick.

The glorious monkey method works every single time and does make you wonder why so many of us have been doing it upside down for most of our adults lives.  'The fact that I am less intelligent than a monkey leaves me puzzled,' claims one commenter on the video, which has amassed over eight million views and presumably transformed the lives of plenty. 'Awesome. I am 62 years old and never knew that,' wrote another. 'So many wrongly peeled bananas.' Over 100 billion bananas are consumed annually worldwide, and people at India eat more of them than any other fruit on the market. So if word of the improved peeling technique continues to spread, perhaps our generations to come will all be munching on their bananas like monkeys.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

11^th  Aug 2014