拯救“懒癌晚期”：日本开卖能吃皮的香蕉 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.

这种香蕉的日文名叫做“Mongee”，即“超级”香蕉的意思。超级香蕉和其他香蕉看起来一样，但号称口感更软更甜，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.

虽然每根超级香蕉售价约为6美元（约合人民币38元），但却不愁销路。这种香蕉在日本仅在一家商店出售，那就是位于冈山县（地处日本西南部）的Tenmaya超市。

超级香蕉由日本公司D&T Farm培育，该公司在其网站上声称，果皮富含维生素B6、镁和色氨酸。色氨酸是人体必需氨基酸之一，可参与人体内血浆蛋白质的更新。

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培育超级香蕉的技术被称为“冻融唤醒”。培育过程中，需要先将香蕉树种植在接近零下27摄氏度的环境中，随后将果实尚未成熟的香蕉树移植到温度在零上27摄氏度左右的温带气候环境中。在这种环境中香蕉树通常会一直生长。

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.

据《纽约邮报》称，D&T Farm的一位发言人表示，这种极端的温度变化会让香蕉的生长速度变快，因此香蕉皮不会完全成熟，质地如“生菜”一般。

那么超级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.

日本网站RocketNews24的试吃者称，超级香蕉的果肉比每根普通香蕉含糖量高出5克左右，有着“浓郁的热带风味”，类似于凤梨。但是果皮似乎没什么特别的味道。

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.

据试吃者称，超级香蕉的果皮“口感不奇怪”，“嚼起来也很容易”，但也“没什么味道”。一位试吃者甚至表示，虽然它不像自己吃过的普通香蕉果皮那样，但还是稍微有点苦。

此外，由于超级香蕉必须完全成熟后才能食用，所以“色相”通常很一般，浑身都是黑色斑点。

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.

香蕉是日本人最喜欢的水果之一。日本长期依赖从菲律宾等国家进口，那里的气候更适合种植这种水果。但D&T Farm希望改变这种情况。

"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."

该公司首席执行官田中哲也说：“日本每年的香蕉进口量有一百万吨，但日本的香蕉产量却不及其消耗量的1%。如果能在日本本土生产香蕉，那么将为这个国家的农业注入活力。”

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的冷冻培育技术可能在未来帮助解决全球食品短缺问题，让人们能够在西伯利亚这样气温寒冷恶劣的地区种植农作物。