Orocafe Products - Bananas

Costa Rica has rainforests, beaches, rivers, mountains, volcanoes, birds, animals, butterflies, and flowers. It also has bananas, bananas, and more bananas—in fact, Costa Rica produces about two million tons of premium bananas a year or 20% of the world's total. For the Costa Rican economy, banana exports rank second only to tourism. Bananas are a major source of income to Costa Rica.

They say "money doesn't grow on trees"— neither do bananas. The banana plant is not a tree but a giant herb and a member of the lily family. It is the largest plant on earth without a woody stem, and grows as high as 25 feet in one year (I thought Tara would enjoy this level of technical detail).

Did you ever wonder where bananas came from? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway. Bananas originated in Malaysia and the East Indies. Men have farmed bananas since pre-historic times. If you are a student of ancient Hindu, Chinese, Greek, or Roman literature, you can find references to the banana. The first banana root stocks were planted in the Caribbean in 1516. American sailors returning from the Caribbean in the 1800’s brought bananas to the United States. They were officially introduced to the American public at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. Each banana was wrapped in foil and sold for 10 cents. Today the average American eats 29 pounds of bananas a year.

What is it about having your own home grown bananas that is so appealing?

A link to pictures of the banana plants found on Finca de Cynthia will be coming soon!!