Breakfast...

I purchase a lot of organic products. I pretty much have since I really dug into the topic in college - wrote a paper on genetically modified foods. I learned a little too much about how foods are grown - kind of wakes your eyes up to what you are putting into your mouth.

Bananas for example, most plantations are run by large corporations - they are grown in huge plantations making them susceptible to diseases. In order to prevent diseases - the farmers soak the crops with large amounts of pesticides. A few large corporations, like Dole, have developed organic plantations - where bananas are grown without the pesticides.

Banana plants are not trees - they are like giant herb trees - as if oregano grew 25 feet! The bundle they sell in the stores is called a "hand". Banana production totals 115 million ton each year. Bananas are mostly grown in Equator, Philippines, Costa Rica, India, and Columbia.

Interesting facts:

Cavendish bananas produced today are clones of an original from the 1950's.

Organic bananas last longer than commercial ones - the ones pictured, I've had for over a week and they are still fresh inside.

Commercial bananas are ripened at a wholesale distributor in large gas chambers using ethanol gas.