Bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Even if you haven't heard Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" by now, there's still reason to love that fun name for an often overlooked fruit. Bananas are high in potassium content, a large one has only 2 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber and just 140 calories. The name of this fruit comes from the word banan, finger in Arabic.
Bananas were quite the world traveler. With origins going back to Malaysia, that yellow fruit then traveled to India where they were mentioned in Buddhist Pali writings dating back to the 6th century BCE. Alexander the Great is credited with bringing the banana from India to the Western world. The tropical fruit eventually reached Madagascar and spread through Africa via Islamic warriors and then reached the west coast of Africa where it was discovered by Portuguese sailors in 1402 and the rest is history. Raw, roasted, broiled, preserved, fried or steamed, the extremely versatile banana is now a world favorite.
And now it's time to tell us which banana is YOUR favorite!