How bananas are grown and harvested
Bananas grow in most tropical regions of the world. They are harvested still green, and they ripen during transportation. In most cases, bananas are sold not yet ripe, and therefore, to allow them to ripen, they need to be stored at room temperature. Today we will show how bananas are harvested in Costa Rica.
As soon as the ovaries on the bunches begin to form, a polyethylene cover is quickly pulled over it so that nothing falls on the ripening fruits, otherwise the bananas will spoil before they are cut off. So they grow in plastic bags, eleven weeks. They do not reach full ripeness, because from here they are transported to different parts of the world, besides, the fruits dry up during transportation.
The cut fruits are suspended on a cable car for transportation to a packing station.
There are no tricks when picking bananas, two workers are needed for this — the first one cuts off a bunch with a long pole with a powerful cleaver screwed at the end, the second at this time carefully puts it on his shoulder.
After cutting bananas, the plant is cut down because it will no longer bear fruit. Planters do not grieve about this: in place of the former banana (which by the way is not a tree, but a grass), a new plant is planted, which in a few months will yield a new crop.
If the method of harvesting has not changed over the century of mass banana cultivation, then the delivery of fruits to the factory has undergone a slight modernization. A bunch of bananas are sent there by such cable cars.
At the packing station, the bundle is divided into bunches and placed in a pool with running water for 20-30 minutes to stop the release of juice from fresh slices on the crown of the fruit, which can spoil the presentation of bananas.
Of all the fruits that got to the packaging station, only 5-6% do not pass quality control. Fruit unsuitable for export is sold at the local market, flour is made from it, from which banana bread is baked or baby food is made.
Mostly women are engaged in washing the banana.
Immediately after the bananas are removed from the pool, it will be dried, wrapped in polyethylene, packed in branded boxes, and shipped by sea: it's cheaper this way and more goods can be transported this way.
The path of bananas to the USA takes 10 days, to Europe — 3 weeks, because half a kilo more fruits are packed in boxes with "European" bananas. By the time they get to our store, a box of bananas will shrink exactly by these half a kilo.
Keywords: Bananas | Costa rica | Agriculture