Hunts Point Terminal Market in the South Bronx is the world's largest produce market, shipping bananas and other fruit wholesale from Maine to Pennsylvania.

At its facility in the Bronx, American Banana maintains 22 pressurized and refrigerated ripening rooms, where the bananas are kept at 58 degrees prior to sale.

A bulk retailer such as Costco, for example, might prefer to by its Bananas "50/50 green and yellow" so it can sell them in five-pound bags. A bodega owner who buys bananas three times a week may prefer his banana "full yellow" or "yellow with green tips."

When a customer calls in his order, Georgallas might translate it into "one box from room three and two from room 12." The entire ripening process takes from five to eight days.

Banana Distributors main warehouse is just outside the New York City terminal market. Being outside the market allows Georgallas to charge a bit more than dealers inside the market because he saves his customers the trouble of parking and traversing the market's chaotic loading docks.

In addition to bananas, Georgallas sells a full line of "tropicals" and other produce. Most of the other produce -- as many as 200 items at a time -- is sold from American Banana's "unit" on row D of the market itself.

Over the years, big supermarket chains have invested in their own ripening rooms, so American Banana now sells mostly to independent supermarkets and smaller stores. The chains still call on American Banana and other Hunts Point dealers for "fill-ins."

In response to increased competition from direct sellers who sell to the chains, Hunts Point distribution companies have also started to consolidate. In 1967 when the market opened, there were 103 distributors. Today there are 52.

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The banana plant

Or why bananas don't exactly grow on trees

Banana plants are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem. They are not trees but herbs-- the world's biggest herb--classified in the same family as lilies, orchids and palms.

The banana plant reaches its full height of 15 to 30 feet in about one year.

Banana plants require tropical weather, rich soil and plenty of water.

As the bananas begin to mature on the plant, harvesters usually place a plastic bag over the fruit to protect it from birds, insects and damage from harsh weather.