While growing up, the “fresh” winter fruits in the household were apples, oranges, the despised grapefruit, and the much-loved banana.
It was a treat to have perfectly yellow bananas, without any black spots on the peel and no mush inside. In my youthful unawareness of the agricultural process, I figured the downtown Safeway must have an interesting growth of banana plants behind the swinging doors to the warehouse.
One of my favourite treats at a meal was the banana salad. Mom would peel the bananas, slice them in half lengthwise and place two slices on a bed of lettuce on each plate. She would then put a dollop of her homemade salad dressing on each slice and top that with tiny bits of walnuts and cashews. That was a much-loved appetizer for whatever meat and potato meal she had planned. And some days when she was particularly busy, she would add an extra banana slice to make it seem like a larger serving and that would be the meal.
I don’t think I have ever served that banana salad to Housemate. I’m sure he would like it, if only restrictive diets permitted.
In addition to banana loaf with cherries and peel, banana muffins with chocolate chips, banana smoothies or banana cake with brown sugar icing, the Monkey Tail booth at the fair was the place to stop. Bananas were peeled and cut in half cross-wise, a stick was inserted, the bananas then dipped in hot chocolate syrup and rolled in nuts. Into the freezer they went and after some time to freeze out came the frozen banana treat. I liked them so much that even a bit of thawed mush didn’t detract from the summer treat.
Then the other day, a friend sent a list of important ideas she thought I just needed to know. For instance, if you run bacon under cold water, shrinkage will be reduced by up to 50 per cent. Good to know. Also educational was the idea of extending the life of a bouquet of flowers by adding 7Up to the water. I wonder if Ginger Ale or Sprite would have the same result?
But it was the banana information that caught my eye. We’ve all muttered about those little stringy things that have to be plucked from the fruit before eating. But if you peel the banana from the bottom, supposedly the problem will disappear.
Eating a banana, the information said, will help ease an upset stomach. Hmmm!
But the most interesting tidbit of information — holding a banana peel over a bruise for 10-30 minutes will remove the black and blue colour from the bruise.
Someone we know might benefit from this remedy. She has a few bruises from a recent fall and being a good friend, I offered to buy her some bananas so she could test the theory. She rebuffed my best intentions and so the bananas will stay in the store and her bruises will no doubt turn many colours before disappearing entirely.
While the peels were healing her injuries, she could have used the fruit portion to make me my favourite childhood salad, or even a homemade Monkey Tail. Neither of those treats came up as she turned down my well-meaning treatment.
Now every time I see someone with a bruise, I might just have to offer some Monkey Business suggestions. And I still laugh when I think of our acquaintance reclining on the couch, with her face covered in banana peels. Another Kodak moment missed. Shame.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
