What’s the Big Peel?? The Truth About Bananas
Words to Know Pulp Percentage Edible Digestible Mass
The banana is a berry. TRUE?FALSE?
TRUE! You may be surprised to learn that bananas are berries. Berries are simple fruit having a skin surrounding one or more seeds in a fleshy pulp.
Bananas grow on trees. TRUE?FALSE?
FALSE! Bananas grow on a tropical plant that is not a tree – it has no trunk.
Pound for pound, bananas are the most widely sold fruit in the Unites States. TRUE?FALSE?
TRUE! Bananas are the most important of all commercial fruits, close to the combined production of all citrus fruits.
Bananas are highly nutritious and easily digestible. TRUE?FALSE?
TRUE! A banana is one of the most easily digested foods and has about calories.
How much of the banana is edible? If the whole banana is 100%, And we subtract the skin, What percentage is left? How much pulp is there? Make your guess now.
You will: Compare the mass of different parts of the banana. Find the percentage of the banana that is edible. Graph your results. Draw conclusions from the results.
Connecting Learning What percentage of your banana is edible?
Connecting Learning Did all the groups have the same results? Explain how you know.
Connecting Learning What surprises, if any, did you find in the masses of the edible parts and the peeling?
Connecting Learning Why would it be important to know which part of the banana is edible?
Connecting Learning Why would it be important to know what part of the banana is edible?
Connecting Learning What factors do you think might affect the percentage of a banana that is edible?