banana

16 Stories

Craving a Banana Peel? Japan Has the Perfect Fruit

Peel from Japan's Monchee banana has texture like 'lettuce' and a slightly bitter taste

(Newser) - About the only thing banana peels were good for up to this point were comedy pratfalls and composting. A farm in Japan appears to have changed that, producing a banana with a tasty edible peel thanks to what Quartz labels a "bizarre method of production." The technique used... More »

They Flew Across the World on a Failed Quest for a Banana

Inside the search for the Cavendish banana's successor

(Newser) - The Cavendish banana—that's the kind sitting in your kitchen right now—is "almost perfect," a scientist with Dole Food Co. tells the Wall Street Journal . Well, "laments," is the word the paper uses. That's because, as has been reported for the past couple... More »

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Big Idea Was Bananas

Tech giant gives away thousands of free bananas every day

(Newser) - There's always money in the banana stand . Unless you're Amazon, of course. Then you just give those suckers out for free. The tech giant tells the Wall Street Journal it gives away about 8,000 bananas to employees and hungry passersby every weekday from two stands at its... More »

China Bans Women From Sexily Eating Bananas

Are cucumbers next?

(Newser) - When sexily eating bananas is outlawed, only outlaws will sexily eat bananas. China's state-run CCTV News reports the Ministry of Culture has banned women from "seductively eating bananas" online. Hundreds of millions of users have apparently been logging onto live-streaming platforms to watch such erotic fruit-eating clips, according... More »

One of Our Favorite Fruits Looks Doomed

A lethal fungus jumped continents in 2013 and is on a global rampage

(Newser) - If you like bananas, it's time to start savoring them while you still can. A deadly fungus that's been killing the plant since the 1960s has jumped continents, moving from where it ravaged crops for decades in Southeast Asia to parts of South Asia, Australia, the Middle East,... More »

Cops, Bomb Tech Respond to Call, Find 'Banana'

Item in yellow tape was actually a geocache

(Newser) - Emergency personnel and a bomb disposal expert have determined that a suspicious "banana" hanging in a pine tree in Nebraska was really just a harmless geocache. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that a utility worker spotted the device wrapped in yellow tape and attached to a wire on Tuesday... More »

Scientists Ready to Test 'Super Banana' on Humans

Fruit could save lives through vitamin A

(Newser) - Vitamin A deficiency kills hundreds of thousands of children worldwide; hundreds of thousands more go blind, says a researcher. That's why his team has developed a "super banana" it aims to grow in Uganda by 2020. Cooking bananas are an East African staple, so Prof. James Dale and... More »

World's Biggest Banana Firm Is Born

Chiquita, Fyffes merge

(Newser) - Yes, they have more bananas: Fruit supply companies Chiquita of the United States and Fyffes of Ireland announced today they had agreed to merge to create the world's biggest banana supplier. The two companies said the merger would create a banana behemoth that ships more than 160 million crates... More »

Nicaragua Puts 3 on Trial Over 2-Banana Theft

Bananas were worth 32 cents each, and the trial will cost $600

(Newser) - A court's decision to hold three men for trial for the attempted theft of two bananas is drawing surprise and ridicule from lawyers in Nicaragua. The bananas stolen are valued at 32 cents, while the trial is expected to cost at least $600. Prosecutors said in preliminary proceedings yesterday... More »

Fungus Threatens Most Common Banana

If it spreads to Latin America, the Cavendish might be doomed

(Newser) - Banana fans, meet your enemy: Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.cubense, but you can call it Foc for short. It's a banana-killing fungus present in Asia and Australia and more recently in Mozambique and Jordan. If it spreads to Latin America—which accounts for about 80% of banana exports—supermarket... More »

Climate Change's New Vital Crop: Bananas

Warming to force farmers to switch away from spuds

(Newser) - As the planet gets warmer, farmers are going to have to give up on certain crops and people are going to have to get used to radically changed diets, according to a new report. Agricultural experts predict that harvests of maize, rice, and wheat are set to fall in many... More »

Scientists Decode Banana Genome

Breakthrough could help keep millions fed in developing nations

(Newser) - They got the tomato in May, and now researchers have sequenced the banana genome, too. It's no mere scientific exercise—the feat could have huge implications in the developing world, explains the Los Angeles Times . Bananas are a vital source of food for hundreds of millions, but they're... More »

Bananas the Key to More Fuel-Efficient Cars?

Their fibers can create a light, strong nanocellulosic plastic

(Newser) - It may sound a little bananas, but it turns out that, well, bananas could help create more fuel-efficient cars. Brazilian scientists have come up with a way of using fibers from that fruit, as well as pineapples and coconuts, to make a lighter, stronger plastic. In fact, it's 30% lighter,... More »

Marketers Ditch Fast Food for Produce Aisle

(Newser) - Wary of being associated with fast food, Disney and others are leaving Happy Meals behind and targeting young buyers—well, their parents—by branding everything from eggs to apples, the Big Money reports. Disney properties like Mickey Mouse, Miley Cyrus, and Zac Efron appear on packaging as well as the... More »

Yellow, Popular, and Not Long for Our Shelves

Ripening prices, disease will make bananas exotic again

(Newser) - With prices pushing the $1-per-pound mark, the banana's days as an American staple fruit are numbered, Dan Koeppel writes in the New York Times. “That bananas have long been the cheapest fruit at the grocery store is astonishing,” he notes of the exotic, quick-to-rot fruit, which is cheaper... More »

Zimbabwe Arrests Dozens in Price Wars

Businesses flout strict cost-control laws as inflation passes 3,700%

(Newser) - Police in Zimbabwe have arrested 1,328 businesspeople, including 33 top executives, for violating official price controls installed to curb uncontrollable currency devaluation. The new regulations demand that many goods' prices be cut in half in response to inflation that has now risen to more than 3,700%. More »

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