bananas,the history of.

[NEVCAR28]

Can anyone tell me when bananas were introduced to the U.K.? - My Father In Law reckons he hardly saw one till after WW2.Also,he reckons at first,people used to eat them with the skins on because they didn't know how to eat them - Can one of our more experienced readers confirm or deny this,or is this just an old wives' tale.Thank you .

[Pinotage]

How old is your father-in-law? None were imported during WW2 for obvious reasons, and there was a lot of publicity when they reappeared. But they were well known long before then - Josephine Baker had a banana "skirt" in Paris in the 1920's .

There was a banana skin found in a Tudor age midden in London recently, and apparently were imported here in small quantities in the 16th century from the Canaries, but because of problems with keeping them once off the tree, large scale importation had to wait till fast steam ships.

It is certain they were available in UK before WW2

[Pinotage]

1888
The first commercial delivery of bananas arrives in London for E.W. Fyffe Son & Co, from the Canary Islands.

http://www.fyffes.com

[Ochimus]

Thomas Johnson wrote in the second edition of apothecary John Gerard's book "Herball" that he recieved a live banana plant with fruit cluster on 10 April 1633. It was a gift from his friend Argent (President of the Society of Physicians) who had received the plant from the Bahamas.

Johnson picked the fruit stalk and hung it in his shop. The fruit ripened about three weeks later and did not rot until June.