B Panchamrutham, confections that are spiced and sweetened with honey, are a favorite in India. The Banana Split, Americas classic dessert, became popular in the 1920s. Its first appearance in Pennsylvania in 1904 consisted of a banana split in half, lengthwise, two or three scoops of ice cream, a generous serving of chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce, and the traditional maraschino cherry on the top. Brazilians make a dessert with mashed bananas mixed with brown sugar, grated ginger, and cinnamon or cloves. Even the leaves of the banana plant become incorporated into the cuisines of nearly all of the tropical regions that grow bananas. A banana leaf can be as long as twelve feet by two feet in width, so pieces of one leaf can go a long way. Wrapping combinations of vegetables and spices in banana leaves and steaming them is common from Central America to Java. The flavor can be described as smoky, slightly cooling, and delicately fragrant.
C The banana even made its presence known with singer Louis Primas recording of the songs "Banana Split for by Baby" and "Please Dont Squeeze Da Banana". The King Sisters, Buddy Clark, Xavier Cugat, and Miteh Miller all performed the "Chiquita Banana" song in the 1940s and 1950s, a song that was used in a radio commercial for bananas. "Yes! We Have No Bananas" was originally performed in 1923 by Billy Jones
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