However, some varieties grow much larger than others, with their stalks and leaves reaching up to 10 feet in height (so read the plant's description carefully before you buy!).

Blanch the banana leaves, a few at a time, in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes until slightly softened. Remove to a bowl of cold water, then drain, pat dry and set aside.

Carefully unroll the grape leaves and rinse well under cold water. Blanch the leaves, a few at a time, in boiling water for 6 to 8 minutes until slightly softened.

When the leaves look tattered and brown, cut the whole shebang to the ground, mulch it (yes, shredded banana leaves and trunks make great mulch), and wait until next spring.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place 1 piece of chicken at one end of a banana leaf strip. Roll up chicken in leaf strip, leaving 2 sides exposed. Place wrapped chicken, with 1 exposed side down, onto ...

Take two white fish, wrap in banana leaves. Make sweet soy dressing and lemongrass dressing. Fire up the barbecue. When hot, grill fish 10 minutes each side. Unwrap and serve with dressings.

Banana leaf packaging and pineapple powder: How Dole plans to eliminate food waste by 2025. The company generates huge amounts of waste from the parts of the fruit it doesn’t use.

Anthracnose leaf blight and stalk rot of corn, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum graminicola, is a disease of worldwide importance. Yield losses can approach 40% and up to 80% lodging has been ...

For banana trees that have not yet bloomed, the flower stalks are somewhere in the trunks now. If you cut back the trunks, you destroy the flower stalk. However, you may cut back any banana trees ...

Self-taught artist Alvaro Jimenez, 67, did not set out to be different. But he has evolved into a league of his own. Jimenez paints on banana stalks that he dries and treats with silica gel.