chong

More like sap. Latex would suggest a gummy white substance. The oozing liquid from a banana wound is almost clear and lightly syrupy. When it gets on cloth, it dries out brown and the stain is very difficult to get rid of. If it gets on colored cloth, you're almost out of luck because to get rid of the stain will almost certainly get rid of the color of the cloth.

Ironically (no pun intended), the laundry women in the Philippines use banana leaves for lubricating the iron for pressing clothes. When I was in high school, electricity was expensive where I was, so the women used a cast-iron iron that used glowing charcoal for heat. Before actually pressing the iron on the clothes, they would briefly press the iron over a stack of banana leaves until the steam diminished. I always wondered why in this manner, the clothes never got stained. Even my white uniform shirts.

I was told that they did this so the clothes wouldn't stick to the iron, particularly with those that were starched. Believe me, if the clothes were overly moist, they stuck to the iron! It took quite some practice to eyeball the moisture of the clothing to apply the iron without the banana leaves. I know, I had to do it. And we actually soaked our clothes in cooked starch. None of this spray-on stuff. Didn't know they even had them until I came to this country in 1966.