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| Honeyed Bananas |
| Inspired by the Tacinum Sanitatis a Medieval Italian
health manual based on a 12th century Arab manuscript. |
| It is no surprise that Ellbochasim
mentions this plant and its fruit, but as fare as we are concerned
we know of it only from texts or tales from merchants from Cyprus
or pilgrims from the Holy Land. Sicilians, on the other hand, know
them well. The leaves are fan-shaped and have a hard rib and a thin
blade, which dries up in the summer. The banana has a yellow skin
when ripe and white pulp. It seems at first to be very insipid-tasting,
but then, they say that one can never eat enough of them due to their
delicious flavor, which gradually emerges very pleasantly. They weigh
heavily on the stomach, and their only virtue is that they are sexually
arousing |
| [From an email penned by Thoman Gloning]
The 11th century Taqwim al-Sihha of Ibn Butlan (Tacuin sanitatis)
has an entry on bananas with one sentence on how to eat them. Here
is a rough English paraphrase based on the Editor's French translation
of his arab edition: ---- 'To eat it with sugar and honey helps to
make good use of it (?). Make sure that the banana is ripe and thoroughly
peeled and drink some perfumed wine afterwards' ---- "La manger avec
du sucre et du miel aide la faire bien appcier, surtout quand elle
est mfre, bien pele et suivie d'un vin parfume". (Elkhadem 155) |
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