Bananas are a wonderful source of potassium and are the perfect on-the-go snack.

 

香蕉是钾元素的绝佳来源，也是完美的便携零食。

 

The only downside to the fruit are those irritating leathery strands¹ - which are actually called 'phloem bundles' - that you get when you peel back a banana skin.

 

But while those stringy bits may not be the most palatable², they are in fact very important - and we wouldn't be able to eat bananas without them, according to Nicholas D. Gillitt, a US academic who shed some light on the mystery this week in a report by Huffington Post.

 

The clue as to why those strands are so important is in their name.

 

Phloem is one of two types of transport tissue that you can find in all plants, and moves nutrients³ and other substances around the whole plant.

 

In a banana, the phloem strands are therefore the reason why all the nutrients can reach the whole of the fruit - which allows it to grow into the fruit we know of.

 

Nicholas D. Gillitt, who is vice⁴ president of nutrition research and director at the Dole⁵ Nutrition Institute explained to Huffington Post: 'Phloem bundles are necessary for the adequate disposition⁶ of nutrients throughout the plant.'

 

The phloem bundles are completely edible⁷ and are just as nutritionally rich as the main part of the fruit, according to Dr Gillitt.

点击收听单词发音