WOULD you like some linolenic acid and butanoate with that banana sundae?

Too bad, you're getting them anyway, as a fascinating poster series looking at the chemistry within everyday natural foods has revealed.

media_camera James Kennedy Melbourne-based chemistry teacher James Kennedy has created and published the posters via his blog of the true ingredients of fruits.

Australian high school chemistry teacher James Kennedy has created and published the posters via his blog to teach students about the dizzying array of chemicals employed by Mother Nature to create something as seemingly simple as a banana.

Visit James Kennedy's blog

The list is startling, with more scary-sounding chemical ingredients than you'd find listed on the back of a can of soft drink or packet of flavoured snacks.

But Kennedy said the big difference was they were all 100 per cent natural.

Eggs, passionfruit and blueberries get a similar treatment - each one sporting an eye-wateringly long list of chemicals that makes the back of a shampoo bottle look tame in comparison.

media_camera Meet chemistry's new poster boy

"With organic chemistry, students often struggle to see the relevance in their lives and they find it hard to grasp because it's so abstract and confusing," Kennedy said.

"I wanted to show them it's part of our everyday lives - that even something like a banana contains all of these complicated compounds that we study in school."

Kennedy is also hoping to restore the reputation of a career path somewhat tarnished by US drama series Breaking Bad and its main protagonist - high school chemistry teacher-turned-drug manufacturer Walter White.

media_camera Passionfruit. Poster: by James Kennedy.

"Walter White has given chemistry a very negative image and I'm trying to show that natural chemistry is absolutely fascinating and equally complex, and it can do a lot of good in the world."

Some of the ingredients in a banana - linolenic acid and butanoate among them - sound more like they've come from a chemical factory than a home-grown plant, but Kennedy said they were all completely natural.

Breaking each item down into its chemical composition was no easy task.

media_camera An egg's "recipe" is quite a long list. Poster: James Kennedy.

Some information on the main ingredients was available from nutritional websites but Kennedy, a teacher at Haileybury School in Victoria, also delved into historic botany books to get greater detail.

"No one has ever really written an ingredients list of natural foods before, so I had to get a lot of sources and sort of compile them together," he said.

Plans are under way to continue the poster series with a breakdown on the chemicals found within tea and coffee, and a special Australia Day-themed edition to be revealed in coming days.