A mythical psychotropic chemical, whose full (mythical) name is Musa Sapientum bananadine. It's said to exist in the peels of bananas, but in very small amounts.
While the widespread knowledge of this drug is largely attributable to urban legend, the initial fabrication of the idea is usually credited to William Powell, who published this bananadine extraction recipe in The Anarchist Cookbook, (often miswritten as, The Anarchist's Cookbook):
- Obtain 15 lbs. of ripe yellow bananas.
- Peel all 15 lbs. and eat the fruit. Save the peels.
- With a sharp knife, scrape off the insides of the peels and save the scraped material.
- Put all of the scraped material in a large pot and add water. Boil for three to four hours until it has attained a solid paste consistency.
- Spread this paste on cookie sheets, and dry in an oven for about 20 minutes to a half hour.
This will result in a fine black powder. Makes about one pound of bananadine powder. Ususally one will feel the effects of bananadine after smoking three or four cigarettes.
(Full text available here)
The more gullible readers of the Cookbook might not have noticed that the recipe's call to eat fifteen pounds(!) of bananas is just about impossible. Maybe he means that you should eat the fruit over the next few weeks, although it might be kinda gross by then. In any event, and in case I have not yet made it obvious: there is no such thing as bananadine.
Given how popular this recipe has become -- just Google the word "bananadine" and you'll see what I mean -- it's amazing that its proponents have obviously never actually tried it! It calls for quite a bit of work, after all.
Incidentally, Powell has posted a message on Amazon.com's listing for the Cookbook, saying that he regrets ever writing the book, and wants to see it go out of print. He does not own the copyright, though, as he (regrettably) relinquished his ownership of the work to Lyle Stuart, Inc. (the original publishing company) upon the work's publication, and the rights have since been sold to a different company. As far as the copyright owner is concerned -- and for that matter, as far as the public is concerned -- it really doesn't much matter what he thinks. Bananadine now has legs, and it's done walked off to get high.
The moral of the story, kids, is, for Chrissake, don't use drugs!