拯救“懶癌晚期”：日本開賣能吃皮的香蕉 38元一根
In Japanese, it's being described as "Mongee" -- the "super" banana. It looks just like any other banana, but it's supposed to be softer and sweeter -- and its peel is edible.
這種香蕉的日文名叫做“Mongee”，即“超級”香蕉的意思。超級香蕉和其他香蕉看起來一樣，但號稱口感更軟更甜，且外皮可以食用。
Even though they cost around $6 each, the special bananas have had no trouble attracting customers to the one place in the country where they're sold, the Tenmaya store in the southwestern city of Okayama.
雖然每根超級香蕉售價約爲6美元（約合人民幣38元），但卻不愁銷路。這種香蕉在日本僅在一家商店出售，那就是位於岡山縣（地處日本西南部）的Tenmaya超市。
超級香蕉由日本公司D&T Farm培育，該公司在其網站上聲稱，果皮富含維生素B6、鎂和色氨酸。色氨酸是人體必需氨基酸之一，可參與人體內血漿蛋白質的更新。
The technique used by D&T Farm to create the Mongee banana is called "freeze thaw awakening." The process involves starting banana trees out in an environment that's nearly minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit, then moving the trees with their still-ripening bananas to a more temperate climate of around 80 degrees — an environment banana trees typically grow in the entire time.
D&T Farm培育超級香蕉的技術被稱爲“凍融喚醒”。培育過程中，需要先將香蕉樹種植在接近零下27攝氏度的環境中，隨後將果實尚未成熟的香蕉樹移植到溫度在零上27攝氏度左右的溫帶氣候環境中。在這種環境中香蕉樹通常會一直生長。
The extreme temperature variation puts the banana's growth into a sort of hyperspeed mode, so the peel doesn't fully mature, leaving it with a texture like "lettuce," a D&T Farm spokesman says, per the New York Post.
據《紐約郵報》稱，D&T Farm的一位發言人表示，這種極端的溫度變化會讓香蕉的生長速度變快，因此香蕉皮不會完全成熟，質地如“生菜”一般。
那麼超級香蕉的果皮味道究竟如何呢？
Taste-testers for the RocketNews24 site in Japan say the banana fruit itself — which has about 5 more grams of sugar per banana than the regular version — boasts a "very strong tropical flavor" akin to that of a pineapple. But the peel apparently lacks any specific taste.
日本網站RocketNews24的試吃者稱，超級香蕉的果肉比每根普通香蕉含糖量高出5克左右，有着“濃郁的熱帶風味”，類似於鳳梨。但是果皮似乎沒什麼特別的味道。
Although it's said not to have a "strange texture" and is "fairly easy to eat," the tasters add there "isn't much flavor"; one experimenter even said it was somewhat bitter, though not as much so as the peels of regular bananas, which he also tasted.
據試吃者稱，超級香蕉的果皮“口感不奇怪”，“嚼起來也很容易”，但也“沒什麼味道”。一位試吃者甚至表示，雖然它不像自己吃過的普通香蕉果皮那樣，但還是稍微有點苦。
此外，由於超級香蕉必須完全成熟後才能食用，所以“色相”通常很一般，渾身都是黑色斑點。
Bananas are one of the most popular fruits in Japan. The country has long relied on imports from places like the Philippines, where the climate is better suited to growing the fruit. But D&T Farm is hoping to change that.
香蕉是日本人最喜歡的水果之一。日本長期依賴從菲律賓等國家進口，那裏的氣候更適合種植這種水果。但D&T Farm希望改變這種情況。
"Japan imports a million tons of bananas annually, but only makes less than 1% of its consumption," CEO Tetsuya Tanaka said. "If bananas are produced locally, it will energize Japan's farming."
該公司首席執行官田中哲也說：“日本每年的香蕉進口量有一百萬噸，但日本的香蕉產量卻不及其消耗量的1%。如果能在日本本土生產香蕉，那麼將爲這個國家的農業注入活力。”
Tanaka says the company's freezing formula could someday help address food shortages in the world by enabling farming in places known for cold, inhospitable temperatures like Siberia.
田中哲也表示，D&T Farm的冷凍培育技術可能在未來幫助解決全球食品短缺問題，讓人們能夠在西伯利亞這樣氣溫寒冷惡劣的地區種植農作物。
