The banana stops here

It's been a lot of years since this refrain was first heard: "Yes, we have no bananas."

Today we have plenty of bananas. So many, in fact, that 96 percent of U.S. households buy bananas at least once a month. The average American -- that's probably you, isn't it? -- eats 78 bananas a year.

The refrain comes from a song in a 1922 Broadway show, which is believed to have been prompted by a banana shortage during that era and reflected what grocers were facing: no bananas in the produce department.

Today we're inundated by them, but banana purveyor Dole Foods reminds us that the ubiquitous fruit has uses far beyond the cereal bowl or after-school snack. Not so incidentally, the fruit is a source of all sorts of vitamins and nutrients (vitamin B6 and C, potassium, manganese and dietary fiber).

Now for the fun facts:

• Bananas grow on plants, not trees.

• Banana terminology: 10 or more bananas together is a "hand," a single banana is a "finger" and four to six together are called a "cluster."

• Use the banana peel to polish your shoes. The inside of an empty peel can be used as shoe polish would be, then buff the shoes with a cloth. Banana oils contain potassium, just as most shoe polish does.

• Americans first tasted bananas at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.

• New Orleans was the major port of entry for bananas from Central and South America in the 1950s. It was also where the flaming dessert Bananas Foster was created, at Brennan's restaurant.