Whoever says bananas are the perfect fruit, I have to agree with them. I love bananas. I love everything about them, their taste, their smell, that cute little package they come in. They contain every single one of the eight amino-acids our body cannot produce itself, in addition to being a good source of fiber, potassium and vitamin C. Plus they have serotonin, so no wonder they make me so happy.

Turns out I am not alone on this one: Bananas are the top selling fruit in the United States, even though they are not grown here!

The best banana, in my book, is one that’s still just a tiny bit green. Just ripe enough but not mushy yet. Yum! And of course, it has got to be organic.

As you probably know, bananas are grown primarily in Honduras, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Peru. And to be shipped here in 40-pound boxes, sometimes the bananas are packed with a chemical called Thiabendazole, which can cause dizziness, nausea and vomiting in the short term and may damage the brain and nervous system in the long term.

I’m guessing that all those people who feed mashed up bananas to their newborn babies aren’t aware of that!

So I always buy organic bananas, grown and shipped the healthy way, which is better for me, better for the workers and better for the Earth.

And as long as we’re on the subject, please check out the many delicious recipes for everything from banana soup to an anti-aging skin mask made from bananas here. So whatever bananas you don’t eat, you can always use on your skin!

Saving the Earth, one organic banana peel at a time.