Pineapple Basics

Filed under: Tropical Fruits, Tagged as: pineapple

 

Pineapples grow in the dry tropics on squat herbaceous plants that stand just 3 feet all and about 3 feet wide. The average pineapple is 4 to 8 inches long though some grow much larger.

The pineapple is covered with thick, hard floral bracts, or leaf-like petals called “eyes” that range in color from dark green to yellow to orange-yellow to reddish. Beneath each bract or eye is a berry-like individual fruit, the sweet pale yellow to white flesh we eat. A pineapple is actually a cylindrical composite fruit formed from 100 to 200 of these berry-like fruits which are fused together off of the pineapples core. The small individual fruit merge into one large composite fruit.

Each of these composite fruits grows from a thickened stalk of the plant. Only one composite fruit—which we call the pineapple--grows from a single stalk but the same plant may produce more than one fruiting stem. The average pineapple weighs from 4 to 9 pounds but some grow to as large as 16 to 20 pounds. From the crown of each fruit grows long, slender spiny leaves.

The pineapple is native to Brazil but was growing throughout tropical South and Central America and the West Indies when Columbus arrived in 1493. Spanish explorers named the fruit piña for its resemblance to a pinecone. That inspired the English name pineapple. The Brazilian Indian name for pineapple is nana which means “excellent fruit”.

The Spaniards brought the pineapple to Europe from South America in the sixteenth century and took the fruit to Hawaii in the late eighteenth century.

Today, pineapples are mainly grown in Hawaii, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica.

Here are the pineapple varieties you are most likely to find in the market:

Smooth Cayenne. A large sweet, juicy, golden-yellow fleshed pineapple; the most widely grown and most popular with the classic cylindrical pine cone shape and long spear-like fronds. Usually weighs 5 to 6 pounds (2.5-3 kg). Grown mostly in Hawaii but also Australia, the Philippines and South Africa. Not spiny.

Hilo. A compact version of smooth Cayenne. Weighs 2-3 pounds (1-1.5 kg).

Esmeralda. A Cayenne type pineapple from Mexico.

Natal Queen. A small, yellow-fleshed pineapple that is firmer, slightly drier than and not as sweet as the Cayenne. Usually weighs 2 to 3 pounds (1-1.5 kg). Best fresh but keeps well. Spiny leaves.

Red Spanish. A medium size pineapple with purplish skin and squarish shape. Pale colored flesh and very fragrant. Usually weights 2 to 4 pounds (1-2 kg). Grown in Puerto Rico, Florida, and Cuba. Spiny leaves.

Pernambuco. A tender, sweet medium-size pineapple with whitish or yellow flesh. Excellent for eating fresh. Usually weighs 2 to 4 pounds (1-2 kg). Spiny leaves.

Kona Sugarloaf. Very sweet, white fleshed pineapple that is not woody at the center. Cylindrical and weighs from 5 to 6 pounds (2.5-3 kg).

The botanical name for the pineapple is Ananas comosus.

Posted by Stephen Albert on May 29, 2008 under: Tropical Fruits , Tagged as: pineapple
Permalink | Comments (0) | Email to a friend | Print