Collecting endless sugar from banana trees 🌴

I have been watching these amazing plants all summer with a feeling like they are producing something other than bananas which can be harvested and only now almost five years after planting them, do I see in what way they can be utilised. Better than that, they are the answer to an old question: how can I produce my own sugar here in France?

Inside the trunk of a banana tree you also have water, but to access it you must kill the plant. So we don't do that!

But we have been using the petals of the flower as mini bowls.

With our two banana flowers around four petals fall to the ground every day, so this is perfect for our family of four!

They can be used to serve food or even drinks.

We also use them as food bowls for the cats who enjoy sinking their little claws into the soft trunks during climbing practice.

It is in fact the little male flowers of the banana plant which are the key to unlocking the door to endless sugar.

These flowers are destined to die and fall to the ground, but underneath each one is a little pot full of sugary liquid!

A closer look here:

source

Before I tell you more about that I want first to show you what our courtyard looked like back in March 2018, when we moved here from Bali.

Looks so naked hey! And we didn't feel good about this, arriving from such a lush green tropical country.

Here it is in May 2018 after planting a single banana tree (behind the dancing Esteban).

Just two months later in July you can see how much the plant likes it here.

Fast forward four years and I noticed liquid sugar dripping from a flower last winter.

The flower was high above the ground at that point but having made the observation I was keen to collect the sugar in the best way I could think of in that moment, using a bucket.

The mission was unsuccessful however as most of the nectar stuck to the petals and my bag was too exposed to the many insects which are attracted to the sweet smell of the sugar.

I didn't realise at that point I would need to access each one of the male flowers directly.

And the best way to do this is with a syringe! Initially I removed the individual flowers from the plant to extract the nectar in this way.

Until I realised there was no need for this and the prize could in fact be removed directly from the plant. Which is better because there is still some left for the insects!

And so, every day I remove the nectar from around 30 little banana pods, which makes around one syringe. After testing it out in my morning coffee I can tell you now one syringe is the equivalent to one tea spoon of sugar. There is a mild banana flavour to the sugar itself, but you don't taste this in coffee. Only the sweetness. Which is perfect!

So while I could now say goodbye to my sugar addiction I am instead collecting it in a pot in order that I can dehydrate and grind it into a powder. Just to see how similar it is to the sugar I am currently using. Who knows, I could make a business out of this in the future when sugar supplies start drying up and I have multiple courtyards growing bananas ;)

If you don't cut the shoot connected to the flower it will never die. Though the flower will eventually hit the ground!

Not long now and the children will be big enough to do this for me ;)

As time goes on more and more new shoots are appearing while others are reaching maturity and producing their flowers, which means the quantity of sugar I harvest each day is only going to grow and grow.

So there you have it, endless sugar!

And all from a single banana tree planted less than five years ago. In a courtyard with very limited access to the soil.

The weirdest part about this is that I can't find any information online about other people milking their bananas in this way. Surely I can't be the only person in the world with the motivation to do this?

Update: It has been three days since I started collecting the sugar and it doesn't smell so good any more! Am assuming it is fermenting like any other fruit juice and so have had to change my plan. I will fill one section of an ice cube holder each day and keep it in the freezer. Am still keen to try crushing it up after dehydration but will need a much larger quantity for this, so perhaps once I have enough frozen I will defrost it all and dehydrate on mass.

There are no problems. Only solutions!

Love & Light everyone 🌱