Pineapple

This handsome tropical fruit got its English name from its vague resemblance to a pine cone. In most European countries, pineapples are known as ananas, derived from the Paraguayan word nana, meaning “excellent fruit.” Pineapples are native to Central and South America. They did not reach Hawaii until 1790, when they were brought there by Captain James Cook. Hawaii is now the biggest producer of pineapples in the world.

Pineapple is one of the most widely eaten tropical fruits, probably second only to the banana, and, like the banana, it is available all year. Pineapples generally grow one to a plant, growing out of the crown (the leafy part that is attached to the top when the fruits are marketed). The fruit develops from a bunch of small, lavender-colored flowers on a short stalk that grows from the center of the leaves (the stalk becomes the core that runs vertically inside the mature pineapple). When developed, a pineapple is actually composed of many small hexagonal fruits merged together, which can be seen from the pattern on the tough skin. The skin is not edible. Being able to distinguish a sweet, ripe pineapple for harvest can be difficult, as color is not a reliable indicator, but the job is quite important because the starch in the fruit will no longer convert to sugar once it is removed from the plant. Some sources say a good test is to see if one of the smaller leaves will pull easily from the crown, but a sweet fragrance is probably the best indicator, just as it is in choosing a harvested pineapple in the market. Pineapples, like many other tropical fruits, contain an enzyme (bromelain) that is beneficial to digestion but not to protein-based gelatin, where it inhibits or prevents coagulation. The way around this is to use agar-agar or cornstarch for thickening, or simply to bring the fruit to a quick boil (which will destroy the enzyme) before using gelatin.