The Canary Islands banana has become one of the hallmarks of the Fortunate Islands, almost as much as the Teide, the millenary Dragon, the volcanic lava, the papas arrugás or the mojo Picón sauce.
It is the fruit par excellence of the Canary Islands and one of the products most exported of the Spanish economy. With its own designation of origin, the banana in the Canary Islands has little to do with the banana in other countries.
Although they belong to a common trunk of fruits, the truth is that the rate of maturation of each separate Canary Islands banana from the rest, with less sugar but more loaded with starches.
Smaller than typical bananas and with its typical dark spots, the Canarian banana is basically a fruit for dessert and, fundamentally, to fresh consumption. On the other hand, the ordinary banana is of harder consistency, suitable for cooking.
Although many people think that the banana came to Spain, after the colonial travels to the new world, the truth is that the process happened the other way. Cultivated in principle in Southeast Asia, the fruit arrived in Africa through Madagascar. From the black continent, the banana became to the Mediterranean sometime in the 6th century, although it was introduced in the Canary Islands thanks to the Portuguese expeditions to Equatorial Guinea.
Canary Islands crops managed to gain a foothold and it was then when the banana came to America, on board of the vessels settlers who sailed to the New World.
Creative Commons or Public Domain Image: Wikicommons/Frank Vicentz
