STUDIES ON BANANA NUTRITION: FUNCTION AND PROCESSING KINETICS

Banana is one of the most important tropical fruits grown throughout the world. The fruit is rich in carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. It is an inexpensive source of carbohydrate but due to its short shelf-life, it results in huge postharvest losses. To increase the postharvest shelf life of the banana fruit, appropriate postharvest handling procedure needs to be adopted to maintain the freshness of the produce. However, the fruit during the glut season can also be converted into intermediate products like puree and concentrate, which can be later used throughout the year. Also, conversion of banana into value added products prevent nutritional losses and can help in combating malnourishment especially in the developing countries. The processing of banana fruit can be one of the important aspects to convert this fruit into value added products. This paper reviews the different postharvest handling processes and the processed products made from banana.