Now & Then: What’s yellow and has its own baseball team?

Ever wonder what Walmart sells the most of?

Come on, guess.

Ya think it’s bread, or milk, or bottled water? How about toilet paper?

Wrong, wrong, wrong and — you guessed it — wrong again.

I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with Savannah.

Now you know, the biggest seller at the world’s largest retailer is —  ta-dum — the ever-popular banana.

That’s right, the yellow submarine-like fruit that you peel to reveal your meal.

Betcha didn’t have a hunch it was that bunch. 

Nor did yours truly.

I was listening to a marketplace report on the radio one day a few years ago and the reporter was interviewing someone who keeps his eyes on the world’s most popular things. Turns out that at the top of the list was bananas.

I guess people around the world go ape over the yellow fruit.

The expert revealed that 91 million metric tons of bananas are harvested annually. I looked up the 2023 worldwide production and it’s up to 170 million metric tons. That’s a lot of bananas.

No wonder I tired of having them sliced on my cereal for breakfast.

But on the other hand, bananas make a pretty nutritious snack, they’re simple to prepare and they taste good.

Guess that’s why Walmart sells so many of them. Not to mention, monkeys go bananas over them and fruit flies find extra-ripe ones worthy of celebratory aerial acrobatic displays.

An average banana contains about 89 calories from 22.8 grams of carbohydrates, half of which are sugar. You get 2.6 grams of dietary fiber and a gram of protein.

As for vitamins, 28 percent of your B-6 and 15 percent of your C come from one banana. If you want to replenish your electrolytes, a banana provides 358 milligrams of potassium.

Bananas are native to Southeast Asia and are believed to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. But they do well all over the tropics and are known to grow in at least 107 countries.

Surprisingly, only 10-15 percent of sweet bananas are exported, mostly to the United States and Europe.

That means picking the fruit while green, storing at 55 degrees for three or four weeks during storage and transport, and then at 63 degrees with a treatment of ethylene. Once they begin turning yellow, they’re placed in grocery stores.

My wife Ginny and I consume a banana every morning for breakfast. That means we’re forced to make trips to the grocery store two or three times a week.

We’ve found that the bananas on display are pretty consistent. They’re either all too green or are all starting to break out in brown spots.

So finding just the right bunch at just the correct size can make me feel like a judge at a beauty pageant. Only, those judges don’t get to handle the product.

I like the junior bananas but they’re often hard to find. One junior is plenty for a sandwich or on the breakfast cereal.

Bet you can guess what my favorite dessert is. Nanner puddin’, natch, but only if it’s done right.

I was raised eating nanner puddin’ topped with meringue rather than the lazy cook’s whipped cream. And the dish has to be baked in the oven, not mixed with instant pudding.

Sorry, I’m just that way.

As for sandwiches, in a pinch I go for the simple banana slices between two pieces of bread with mayo. When I’m feeling fat and sassy, I like the Elvis recipe — bananas and peanut butter.

Ginny has been known to freeze bananas, then put them in a blender with milk to form a neat shake. But that was when she was still practicing the culinary arts.

Oh, did I tell you I’m a freak for homemade banana ice cream?

Just thought you ought to know.

By the way, if I ever had to go off-grid, I believe I could survive in a banana republic. 

Larry Penkava is a writer for Randolph Hub. 

Contact: 336-302-2189, larrypenkava@gmail.com.