3 Sweet Stories You Didn’t Know About This Fruit

pile of bananas
Via Picryl
Adé Hennis
March 23, 2025

No matter how you like green or yellow, sweet or savory, bananas have been intertwined with our history for centuries. And it wasn’t just for consumption, some of its uses were lifesaving.

#1 Banana Wine: When resources were limited in the 1800s, Ugandans got creative. Using their genius, they discovered that banana wine could be used as an antiseptic and anesthetic. It was used in all kinds of medical procedures, even c-sections.

#2 Banana Pudding: Banana pudding is everywhere in the South, but during the Great Migration, it became popular nationwide, and was regularly served at Sunday dinners and family reunions. Bananas and vanilla wafers were inexpensive, and banana pudding was a priceless way to bring communities together.

#3 Banana Bread: Everybody knows that when bananas start turning black, it’s time to turn them into banana bread. Mentioned in historic Gullah Geechee cookbooks, and in cookbooks written during the Civil Rights Movement, banana bread is an easy and tasty snack.

Bananas may be sweet, but the true sweetness lies in our resourcefulness. Together, we create a stronger bond than the ripest bunch of bananas.

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