Those strings on your bananas have an important purpose

Sometimes we have to work hard for our nutrition. In this case, we’re mainly referring to the strenuous practice of peeling fruits and vegetables. In terms of fruit, bananas are a pretty low maintenance source of vitamins, except when it comes to one thing — those pesky banana strings. Well, The Huffington Post did some digging and discovered that the strings that appear when you peel a banana have a name, and they also have a purpose that will make it much harder for you to hate them.

You know the feeling of peeling a banana and getting tangled up in its strings. They have an uncanny way of sticking to your hand as they fight to not be cast aside. It’s a struggle that may make you want to give up on bananas altogether. Or, you know, take a banana break.

But the strings — called phloem bundles — have a vital purpose to the banana. As the VP of nutrition research and director at the Dole Nutrition Institute, Nicholas D. Gillitt, Ph.D., told HuffPost:

"Phloem bundles are necessary for the adequate disposition of nutrients throughout the plant."

But just because these strings are important doesn’t mean you need to eat them — even though you could. Dr. Gillit said:

"In general, all parts of fruits are healthy. We eat the skins of apples, pears, etc., and we could eat the skins of bananas — including the phloem bundles — if we find them palatable, but there is no evidence to suggest they are harmful."

However, we’re gonna stick with just eating the inside of the banana and skipping the peel and phloem bundles. (They don’t sound so appetizing to us.)

So next time you’re disgusted by the strings of a banana, remember that they’re phloem bundles, and how a banana would not be a delicious and nutritious banana without them.