Students may be surprised to see what a banana plant actually looks like or where chocolate comes from. These are some facts of how they get to your table.

Bananas

• Pollinated by bats
• Bananas are berries that grow upward
• They are harvested immaturely 
• Ethylene gas improves ripening
• They were cut from the stalk about two or three weeks before they are bought

Chocolate

• Comes from seeds
• Fruit is ready when it changes from green to a red or yellowish color
• Fruit is cracked open lengthwise
• Seeds are dried, washed and fermented
• Seeds are roasted in the oven at the manufacturer
• They are then compressed to give two products cocoa solids and lipids that become cocoa butter

Pomegranates

• Juice comes from the aril surrounding the seed
• Normally about the size of a softball
• Harvested before they’re mature
• When mature they crack open
• Wall of fruit is tough

You can see the plants listed here as well as hundreds of others, including cotton and oranges at the Bessey Greenhouse 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays on the roof of Bessey Hall.

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