The pineapple
(''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family
Bromeliaceae
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...
. The pineapple is indigenous to
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
, where it has been cultivated for many centuries. The introduction of the pineapple to Europe in the
17th century made it a significant cultural icon of luxury. Since the 1820s, pineapple has been commercially grown in greenhouses and many tropical plantations.
Pineapples grow as a small shrub; the individual flowers of the unpollinated plant fuse to form a
multiple fruit. The plant is normally propagated from the
offset produced at the top of the fruit,
or from a side shoot, and typically matures within a year.
Botany
The pineapple is a
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition ...
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
, which grows to tall, although sometimes it can be taller. The plant has a short, stocky stem with tough, waxy leaves. When creating its fruit, it usually produces up to 200 flowers, although some large-fruited cultivars can exceed this. Once it flowers, the individual fruits of the flowers join together to create a
multiple fruit. After the first fruit is produced, side shoots (called 'suckers' by commercial growers) are produced in the leaf axils of the main stem. These suckers may be removed for propagation, or left to produce additional fruits on the original plant.
Commercially, suckers that appear around the base are cultivated. It has 30 or more narrow, fleshy, trough-shaped leaves that are long, surrounding a thick
stem
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...
; the leaves have sharp spines along the margins. In the first year of growth, the axis lengthens and thickens, bearing numerous leaves in close spirals. After 12 to 20 months, the stem grows into a spike-like
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...
up to long with over 100 spirally arranged, trimerous flowers, each subtended by a bract.
The ovaries develop into
berries
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...
, which coalesce into a large, compact, multiple fruit. The fruit of a pineapple is usually arranged in two interlocking
helices, often with 8 in one direction and 13 in the other, each being a
Fibonacci number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted , form a integer sequence, sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1, although some authors start ...
.
File:PineApple - Ananas comosus - starting stage.jpg, Pineapple in the starting stage
File:Ananas bracteatus Striatus 0zz.jpg, Pineapple inflorescense
File:Flowering Pineapple Sept 4 2011.jpg, A young pineapple in flower
File:Ananas comosus-pineapple flowers - കൈതച്ചക്ക.jpg, Pineapple flower closeup
The pineapple carries out
CAM photosynthesis, fixing carbon dioxide at night and storing it as the acid
malate
Malic acid is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a dicarboxylic acid that is made by all living organisms, contributes to the sour taste of fruits, and is used as a food additive. Malic acid has two stereoisomeric forms ...
, then releasing it during the day aiding photosynthesis.
The pineapple comprises five botanical varieties, formerly regarded as separate species:
Pollination
In the wild, pineapples are pollinated primarily by
hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics ar ...
s.
Certain wild pineapples are
forage
Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also us ...
d and pollinated at night by
bats. Under cultivation, because seed development diminishes fruit quality, pollination is performed by hand, and seeds are retained only for
breeding.
In
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...
, where pineapples were cultivated and
canned
Canned may refer to:
* " Canned", an episode of ''Rocko's Modern Life''
* Canning of food
* Dismissal (employment)
* Drunkenness
* produced and conserved to be released on demand, e.g.
** Canned air
** Canned hunt
** Canned laughter
** Cann ...
industrially throughout the 20th century,
importation of hummingbirds was prohibited.
English name
The first reference in English to the pineapple fruit was the 1568 translation from the French of
André Thevet
André Thevet (; ; 1516 – 23 November 1590) was a French Franciscan priest, explorer, cosmographer and writer who travelled to the Near East and to South America in the 16th century. His most significant book was ''The New Found World, or ...
's ''
The New Found World, or Antarctike
''The New Found World, or Antarctike'' is the English title of an account first published in French in 1557 by the French Franciscan priest and explorer André Thevet after his experiences in France Antarctique, a French settlement in modern Ri ...
'' where he refers to a , a fruit cultivated and eaten by the
Tupinambá people
The Tupinambá are one of the various Tupi ethnic groups that inhabited present-day Brazil since before the conquest of the region by Portuguese colonial settlers. In the first years of contact with the Portuguese, the Tupinambás lived in the wh ...
, living near modern Rio de Janeiro, and now believed to be a pineapple. Later in the same English translation, he describes the same fruit as a "Nana made in the manner of a Pine apple", where he used another
Tupi word , meaning 'excellent fruit'. This usage was adopted by many European languages and led to the plant's scientific
binomial , where 'tufted', refers to the stem of the plant. Purchas, writing in English in 1613, referred to the fruit as ''Ananas'', but the
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
's first record of the word ''pineapple'' itself by an English writer by Mandeville in 1714.
History

Precolonial cultivation
The wild plant originates from the
Paraná–
Paraguay River drainages between southern
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
.
[Bertoni, "Contributions a l'étude botanique des plantes cultivées. Essai d'une monographie du genre Ananas", Annales Cient. Paraguay (2nd series) 4 (by1919:250–322).] Little is known about its domestication, but it spread as a crop throughout South America. Archaeological evidence of use is found as far back as 1200 - 800 BC (3200-2800 BP) in Peru and 200BC - AD700 (2200-1300 BP) in Mexico, where it was cultivated by the
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popu ...
s and the
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl l ...
. By the late 1400s, cropped pineapple was widely distributed and a
staple food
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard Diet (nutrition), diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of ...
of Native Americans. The first European to encounter the pineapple was Columbus, in
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands— Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
on 4 November 1493.
The Portuguese took the fruit from Brazil and introduced it into
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
by 1550. The '' cultivar was also introduced by the Spanish from Latin America to the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and it was grown for textile use from at least the 17th century.
Columbus brought the plant back to Spain and called it ''piña de Indes'', meaning "pine of the Indians". The pineapple was documented in Peter Martyr's ''
Decades of the New World'' (1516) and
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was an Venetian scholar and explorer. He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan under the flag of the emperor Charles V and after Magellan's death in the Philippine Islands, ...
's ''Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo'' (1524-1525), and the first known illustration was in
Oviedo's ''Historia General de Las Indias'' (1535).
Old World introduction
The pineapple fascinated Europeans as a fruit of colonialism.
[Christopher Cumo, ''Foods that Changed History: How Foods Shaped Civilization from the Ancient World to the Present'' (ABC-CLIO, 2015), p. 294.] But it was not successfully cultivated in Europe until
Pieter de la Court developed
greenhouse
A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These ...
horticulture near Leiden from about 1658.
Pineapple plants were distributed from the Netherlands to English gardeners in 1719 and French ones in 1730.
In England, the first pineapple was grown at
Dorney Court,
Dorney in Buckinghamshire, and a huge "pineapple stove" to heat the plants was built at the
Chelsea Physic Garden
The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the s ...
in 1723.
[Mimi Sheller, ''Consuming the Caribbean: From Arawaks to Zombies'' (Routledge: 2003), p. 80.] In France, King
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
was presented with a pineapple that had been grown at
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
in 1733. In Russia,
Catherine the Great ate pineapples grown on her own estates before 1796.
Because of the expense of direct import and the enormous cost in equipment and labour required to grow them in a temperate climate, in greenhouses called "pineries", pineapple became a symbol of wealth. They were initially used mainly for display at dinner parties, rather than being eaten, and were used again and again until they began to rot. In the second half of the 18th century, the production of the fruit on British estates became the subject of great rivalry between wealthy aristocrats.
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, built a hothouse on his estate surmounted by a huge stone
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fr ...
14 metres tall in the shape of the fruit; it is known as the
Dunmore Pineapple. In architecture, pineapple figures became decorative elements symbolizing hospitality.
[ James Stevens Curl, ''Classical Architecture: An Introduction to Its Vocabulary and Essentials, with a Select Glossary of Terms'' (W. W. Norton: 2003), p. 206.][Hugh Morrison, ''Early American Architecture: From the First Colonial Settlements to the National Period'' (Oxford University Press, 1952), p. 302.]Cyril Manton Harris
Cyril Manton Harris (June 20, 1917 – January 4, 2011) was Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Charles Batchelor Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. He received his B.S. in mathematics and his M.S. in physics f ...
, ''American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia'' (W. W. Norton: 1998), p. 248.
Since 19th century: mass commercialization
Many different varieties, mostly from the Antilles, were tried for European glasshouse cultivation. The most significant was "Smooth Cayenne", imported to France in 1820, subsequently re-exported to the UK in 1835, and then from the UK via Hawaii to Australia and Africa. "Smooth Cayenne" is now the dominant cultivar in world production.
Jams and sweets based on pineapple were imported to Europe from the West Indies, Brazil, and Mexico from an early date. By the early 19th century, fresh pineapples were transported direct from the West Indies in large enough quantities to reduce European prices.
Later pineapple production was dominated by the Azores for Europe, and Florida and the Caribbean for North America, because of the short trade routes.
The Spanish had introduced the pineapple into Hawaii in the 18th century
where it is known as the ''hala kahiki'' ("foreign
hala
Hala may refer to:
People
* Hala (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name)
* David Hala (born 1989), Australian Rugby League player
* Hāla (fl. 20-24), Indian king of the Satavahana d ...
"), but the first commercial plantation was established in 1886. The most famous investor was
James Dole, who moved to Hawaii in 1899 and started a pineapple plantation in 1900 which would grow into the
Dole Food Company
Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company, Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating wi ...
.
Dole and
Del Monte began growing pineapples on the island of
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...
in 1901 and 1917, respectively, and the
Maui Pineapple Company
Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (ML&P, ) is a land holding and operating company founded in 1909 and based in Kapalua, Hawaii, United States. It owns approximately on the island of Maui. It develops, sells, and manages residential, resort, co ...
began cultivation on
Maui in 1909. James Dole began the commercial processing of pineapple, and Dole employee Henry Ginaca invented an automatic peeling and coring machine in 1911.

Hawaiian production started to decline from the 1970s because of competition and the shift to refrigerated sea transport. Dole ceased its cannery operations in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...
in 1991, and in 2008, Del Monte terminated its pineapple-growing operations in Hawaii.
In 2009, the Maui Pineapple Company reduced its operations to supply pineapples only locally on Maui, and by 2013, only the
Dole Plantation on Oahu grew pineapples in a volume of about 0.1 percent of the world's production.
Despite this decline, the pineapple is sometimes used as a symbol of Hawaii. Further, foods with pineapple in them are sometimes known as "Hawaiian" for this reason alone.
In the Philippines, "Smooth Cayenne" was introduced in the early 1900s by the
US Bureau of Agriculture during the
American colonial period. Dole and Del Monte established plantations in the island of
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of t ...
in the 1920s; in the provinces of
Cotabato and
Bukidnon, respectively.
Large scale canning had started in Southeast Asia, including in the Philippines, from 1920. This trade was severely damaged by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, and Hawaii dominated the international trade until the 1960s.
The Philippines remain one of the top exporters of pineapples in the world. The Del Monte plantations are now locally managed, after Del Monte Pacific Ltd., a Filipino company, completed the purchase of Del Monte Foods in 2014.
Uses
Culinary
The flesh and juice of the pineapple are used in cuisines around the world. In many tropical countries, pineapple is prepared and sold on roadsides as a snack. It is sold whole or in halves with a stick inserted. Whole, cored slices with a
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus '' Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The ...
in the middle are a common garnish on hams in the West. Chunks of pineapple are used in desserts such as fruit salad, as well as in some savory dishes, including pizza toppings, or as a grilled ring on a
hamburger
A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...
. Traditional dishes that use pineapple include ''
hamonado
''Hamonado'' (Spanish: ''jamonado''), or ''hamonada'', is a Filipino dish consisting of meat marinated and cooked in a sweet pineapple sauce. It is a popular dish during Christmas in Philippine regions where pineapples are commonly grown. ''H ...
'', ''
afritada'', ''
kaeng som pla'', and
Hawaiian haystack
A Hawaiian haystack (also known as a "chicken sundae" or "snow on the mountain") is a type of haystack. It is a convenience cuisine dish composed of a rice base and several toppings. It is prepared by topping rice with toppings such as chicken, ...
. Crushed pineapple is used in yogurt, jam, sweets, and ice cream. The juice of the pineapple is served as a beverage, and it is also the main ingredient in
cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely acr ...
s such as the ''
piña colada
The piña colada (; es, piña , "pineapple", and , "strained") is a cocktail made with rum, cream of coconut or coconut milk, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice. It may be garnished with either a pineapp ...
'' and in the drink ''
tepache''.
In the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, a traditional jelly-like dessert called ''
nata de piña
''Nata de piña'' ("cream of pineapple" in Philippine Spanish, Spanish), also marketed as pineapple gel or pineapple gelatin, is a chewy, translucent, Fruit preserves, jelly-like food produced by the fermentation (food), fermentation of pineapple j ...
'' has also been produced since the 18th century. It is made by fermenting pineapple juice with ''
Komagataeibacter xylinus''.
Pineapple vinegar is an ingredient found in
Honduran, and
Filipino cuisine, where it is produced locally. In
Mexico
Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
it is usually made with peels from the whole fruit, rather than the juice, but in
Taiwanese cuisine it is often produced by blending pineapple juice with grain vinegar.
The
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
consumed 50% of global total for pineapple juice in 2012–2016. The
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
was the largest importer of pineapple juice in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
.
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
,
Costa Rica and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
are the major suppliers to the European Union market in 2012–2016. Countries consuming the most pineapple juice in 2017 were
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, having combined consumption of 47% of the world total. From 2007 to 2017, the largest growth in pineapple juice consumption was by
Angola
, national_anthem = "Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
. The consumption of pineapple juice in
China and
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
is low compared to their populations.
Nutrition
Raw pineapple pulp is 86% water, 13%
carbohydrate
In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or ...
s, 0.5%
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...
, and contains negligible
fat (table). In a 100-gram reference amount, raw pineapple supplies of
food energy, and is a rich source of
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy u ...
(44%
Daily Value
The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products in the U.S. and Canada is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of health ...
, DV) and
vitamin C
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) a ...
(58% DV), but otherwise contains no
micronutrient
Micronutrients are essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for example, huma ...
s in significant amounts.
Cultivation
In commercial farming, flowering can be induced artificially, and the early harvesting of the main fruit can encourage the development of a second crop of smaller fruits. Once removed during cleaning, the top of the pineapple can be planted in soil and a new plant will grow. Slips and suckers are planted commercially.
Ethical and environmental concerns
Like most
modern fruit production, pineapple plantations are highly industrialized operations. In Costa Rica particularly, the pineapple industry uses large amounts of insecticides to protect the crop, which have caused health problems in many workers. These workers often receive little compensation, and are mostly poor migrants, often
Nicaraguan. Workers' wages also decrease every time prices are lowered overseas. In 2016, the government declared that it would be trying to improve the situation, with the help of various other groups.
Historically, tropical fruit agriculture, such as for pineapples, has been concentrated in so-called "
banana republics."
Illegal drug trade
Export pineapples from Costa Rica to Europe are recurrently used as a cover vehicle for narcotrafficking, and its containers are impounded routinely in either location.
Expansion into protected areas
In Costa Rica, pineapple cultivation has expanded into the
Maquenque, ,
Barra del Colorado and
Caño Negro
Caño is a barrio in the municipality of Guánica, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 1,788.
See also
* List of communities in Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, there are 78 municipalities and 902 municipio subdivisions made up of 827 barrio ...
wildlife refuges, all located in the north of the country. As those are protected areas and not national parks, limited and restricted sustainable activities are allowed, however pineapple plantations are industrial operations and many of these don't have the proper license to operate in the protected areas, or were started before either the designation of the area, recent regulations or the creation of the environmental regulatory agency (Setena) in 1996. The agency has registers for around of pineapple plantations operating within protected areas, but satellite imagery from 2018 reports around .
Cultivars
Many
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s are known.
The leaves of the commonly grown "smooth cayenne" are smooth, and it is the most commonly grown worldwide. Many cultivars have become distributed from its origins in
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
and the southern part of
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and later improved stocks were introduced into the Americas, the Azores, Africa, India, Malaysia and Australia.
Varieties include:
* "Hilo" is a compact, 1.0- to 1.5-kg (2– to 3-lb) Hawaiian variant of smooth cayenne; the fruit is more cylindrical and produces many suckers, but no slips.
* "Kona sugarloaf", at 2.5 to 3.0 kg (5–6 lb), has white flesh with no woodiness in the center, is cylindrical in shape, and has a high sugar content but no acid; it has an unusually sweet fruit.
* "Natal queen", at 1.0 to 1.5 kg (2 to 3 lb), has golden yellow flesh, crisp texture, and delicate mild flavor; well-adapted to fresh consumption, it keeps well after ripening. It has spiny leaves, and is grown in Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa.
* "Pernambuco" ("eleuthera") weighs 1–2 kg (2–4 lb), and has pale yellow to white flesh. It is sweet, melting in texture, and excellent for eating fresh; it is poorly adapted for shipping, has spiny leaves, and is grown in Latin America.
* "Red Spanish", at 1–2 kg (2–4 lb), has pale yellow flesh with a pleasant aroma, is squarish in shape, and well-adapted for shipping as fresh fruit to distant markets; it has spiny leaves and is grown in Latin America and the Philippines. It was the original pineapple cultivar in the Philippines grown for their leaf fibers (''
piña'') in the traditional Philippine textile industry.
* "Smooth cayenne", a 2.5- to 3.0-kg (5- to 6-lb), pale yellow– to yellow-fleshed, cylindrical fruit with high sugar and acid content, is well-adapted to canning and processing; its leaves are without spines. It is an ancient cultivar developed by
Amerind peoples.
In some parts of Asia, this cultivar is known as
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...
, after an area of Malaysia in which it is grown. It is one of the ancestors of cultivars "73-50" (also called "MD-1" and "CO-2") and "73–114" (also called "MD-2").
Smooth cayenne was previously the variety produced in Hawaii, and the most easily obtainable in U.S. grocery stores, but was replaced over the course of the mid-1990s and 2000s by MD-2.
* Some ''Ananas'' species are grown as
ornamentals for color, novel fruit size, and other
aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
qualities.
In the US, in 1986, the Pineapple Research Institute was dissolved and its assets divided between Del Monte and
Maui Land and Pineapple. Del Monte took cultivar '73–114', dubbed 'MD-2', to its plantations in Costa Rica, found it to be well-suited to growing there, and launched it publicly in 1996 as 'Gold Extra Sweet', while Del Monte also began marketing '73–50', dubbed 'CO-2', as 'Del Monte Gold'.
The Maui Pineapple Company began growing variety 73-50 in 1988 and named it Maui Gold. The successor company to MPC, the Hali'imaile Pineapple Company continues to grow Maui Gold on the slopes of
Haleakala.
File:Azores-Day4-16 (33766683744).jpg, Growing pineapples in a greenhouse
File:Ananas bracteatus, Dole Pineapple Plantation, Oahu, Hawaii, USA2.jpg, Red pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centurie ...
(''Ananas bracteatus'')
File:Abacaxi (Ananas comosus) 2014-07-14 20-40.jpg, Abacaxi
File:Dolejf2103.JPG, Tropical Gold
File:Ananas comosus Victoria P1190459.jpg, Victoria
As a houseplant
The variety ''A. comosus'' 'Variegatus' is occasionally grown as a houseplant. It needs direct sunlight, and thrives at temperatures of with a minimum winter temperature of . It should be kept humid, but the soil should be allowed to dry out between waterings. It has almost no resting period but should be repotted each spring until the container reaches .
Production
In 2020, world production of pineapples was 28 million
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s, led by the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Costa Rica,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, and
China as the largest producers.
[
]
Phytochemistry
Pineapple fruits and peels contain diverse phytochemical
Phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them resist fungi, bacteria and plant virus infections, and also consumption by insects and other animals. The name comes . Some phytochemicals have been used as poison ...
s, among which are polyphenol
Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring organic compounds characterized by multiples of phenol units. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some o ...
s, including gallic acid, syringic acid, vanillin, ferulic acid
Ferulic acid is a hydroxycinnamic acid, an organic compound with the formula (CH3O)HOC6H3CH=CHCO2H. The name is derived from the genus '' Ferula'', referring to the giant fennel (''Ferula communis''). Classified as a phenolic phytochemical, ferul ...
, sinapic acid, coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, and arbutin.
Bromelain
Present in all parts of the pineapple plant, bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic
Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called proteases ...
enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...
s. It is present in stem, fruit, crown, core, leaves of pineapple itself. Bromelain is under preliminary research for treatment of a variety of clinical disorders, but has not been adequately defined for its effects in the human body. Bromelain may be unsafe for some users, such as in pregnancy
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ...
, allergies
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derm ...
, or anticoagulation therapy.
If having sufficient bromelain content, raw pineapple juice may be useful as a meat marinade and tenderizer
A meat tenderizer, or meat pounder is a hand-powered tool used to tenderize slabs of meat in the preparation for cooking. Although a meat tenderizer can be made out of virtually any object, there are three types manufactured specifically for ...
. Although pineapple enzymes can interfere with the preparation of some foods or manufactured products, such as gelatin
Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...
-based desserts or gel capsules, their proteolytic activity responsible for such properties may be degraded during cooking and canning
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, althoug ...
. The quantity of bromelain in a typical serving of pineapple fruit is probably not significant, but specific extraction Extraction may refer to:
Science and technology
Biology and medicine
* Comedo extraction, a method of acne treatment
* Dental extraction, the surgical removal of a tooth from the mouth
Computing and information science
* Data extraction, the pro ...
can yield sufficient quantities for domestic and industrial processing.
Pests and diseases
Pineapples are subject to a variety of diseases, the most serious of which is wilt disease vectored by mealybug
Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Many species are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also act as a ...
s typically found on the surface of pineapples, but possibly in the closed blossom cups. Other diseases include citrus pink disease, bacterial heart rot, anthracnose
A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticultur ...
, fungal heart rot, root rot, black rot, butt rot, fruitlet core rot, and yellow spot virus.[Pests and Diseases of Pineapple: Food Market Exchange – B2B e-marketplace for the food industry](_blank)
. Food Market Exchange. Retrieved on 2 October 2011.
Pineapple pink disease (not citrus pink disease) is characterized by the fruit developing a brownish to black discoloration when heated during the canning process. The causal agents of pink disease are the bacteria ''Acetobacter aceti'', ''Gluconobacter oxydans'', ''Pantoea
''Pantoea'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria of the family Erwiniaceae
The ''Erwiniaceae'' are a family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage o ...
citrea'' and ''Tatumella ptyseos''.
Some pests that commonly affect pineapple plants are scales, thrips, mites, mealybugs, ants, and symphylid
Symphylans, also known as garden centipedes or pseudocentipedes, are soil-dwelling arthropods of the class (biology), class Symphyla in the subphylum Myriapoda. Symphylans resemble centipedes, but are very small, non-venomous, and only distantly ...
s.
Heart-rot is the most serious disease affecting pineapple plants. The disease is caused by ''Phytophthora cinnamomi
''Phytophthora cinnamomi'' is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants variously called " root rot", "dieback", or (in certain ''Castanea'' species), "ink disease". The plant pathogen is one of the w ...
'' and '' P. parasitica'', fungi that often affect pineapples grown in wet conditions. Since it is difficult to treat, it is advisable to guard against infection by planting resistant cultivars where these are available; all suckers that are required for propagation should be dipped in a fungicide, since the fungus enters through the wounds.
Storage and transport
Some buyers prefer green fruit, others ripened or off-green. A plant growth regulator, Ethephon, is typically sprayed onto the fruit one week before harvest, developing ethylene
Ethylene ( IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds).
Ethylene ...
, which turns the fruit golden yellow. After cleaning and slicing, a pineapple is typically canned in sugar syrup with added preservative. A pineapple never becomes any riper than it was when harvested.
Textiles
The 'Red Spanish' cultivar of pineapples were once extensively cultivated in the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. The long leaves of the cultivar were the source of traditional piña fibers, an adaptation of the native weaving traditions with fibers extracted from abacá
Abacá ( ; fil, Abaka ), binomial name ''Musa textilis'', is a species of banana native to the Philippines, grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. The plant, also known as Manila hemp, has great economic impor ...
. These were woven into lustrous lace-like '' nipis'' fabrics usually decorated with intricate floral embroidery known as ''calado'' and ''sombrado''. The fabric was a luxury export from the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period and gained favor among European aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Domestically, they were used to make the traditional '' barong tagalog'', '' baro't saya'', and '' traje de mestiza'' clothing of the Filipino upper class, as well as women's kerchief
A kerchief (from the Old French ''couvrechief'', "cover head"), also known as a bandana, bandanna, or "Wild Rag" (in cowboy culture), is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head, face or neck for protective or decorative purp ...
s (''pañuelo''). They were favored for their light and breezy quality, which was ideal in the hot tropical climate of the islands. The industry was destroyed in the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and is only starting to be revived.["piña cloth". Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. The Free Dictionary. Retrieved on 6 November 2014 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pi%C3%B1a+cloth.]
File:Tampuhan by Juan Luna.jpg, 1895 painting of a Filipina in traditional '' traje de mestiza'' dress
File:Barong Up Close.jpg, ''Calado'' embroidery on a '' barong tagalog''
File:Handkerchief (Philippines), 19th century (CH 18386747).jpg, 19th century handkerchief
A handkerchief (; also called a hankie or, historically, a handkercher or a ) is a form of a kerchief or bandanna, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric which can be carried in the pocket or handbag for personal hygiene purposes such as ...
in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile (New York City), Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the ...
File:Frock coat MET 63.25 front CP4.jpg, alt=Long sleeved jacket, Frock coat, 1840–49, Philippines, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
Gallery
File:Pineapple (sliced).jpg, Pineapple (sliced)
File:Chicken Afritada on white rice with pineapple tidbits (Philippines) 2.jpg, Chicken '' afritada'' (Philippines)
File:TepacheStraw.JPG, '' Tepache'' (Mexico)
File:Pineapple chicken (Pininyahang Manok).jpg, '' Pininyahang manok'' (Philippines)
File:2017-11-13 13 56 02 Sicilian pizza with mushrooms and pineapple from Buon Appetito's NY Pizza in Dulles, Loudoun County, Virginia.jpg, Pineapple pizza
Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, ...
File:Kaeng lueang.JPG, '' Kaeng som pla'' (Thailand)
File:Thevet1558Pineapple.jpg, Artist's impression of a pineapple in Thevet, 1558
File:Charles-pineapple.jpg, 1675 painting by Hendrik Danckerts
Hendrick Danckerts (c.1625 - 1680) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver, mostly of houses in their landscape settings. After some years in Italy, he spent most of his career in London, working for Charles II and his brother.
Biography
D ...
, depicting Charles II being presented with what is thought to be the first pineapple grown in England
File:Hawaiian canned pineapple, 1914.png, Canned pineapples, cored and sliced, 1914
File:Preparing pineapple - 01.ogv, A pineapple being prepared by a roadside vendor in Hainan
Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...
, China
File:Pineapple detail.jpg, Pineapple detail
File:Pineapple leaf detail.jpg, Pineapple leaf detail
See also
* Big Pineapple
* Pineapple cutter
A pineapple cutter is a hand-held cylindrical kitchen utensil with a circular blade at the end designed for cutting pineapples. A knife is required to open the top of the pineapple before using the pineapple cutter. The cutter will cut the flesh of ...
* Pineapple cake
Pineapple cake (; Taiwanese Hokkien: 王梨酥 ông-lâi-so͘) is a Taiwanese sweet traditional pastry and dessert containing butter, flour, egg, sugar, and pineapple jam or slices.
History
Both pineapple cake and pineapple tart likely came ...
* Pineapple tart
* Vazhakulam pineapple
References
Bibliography
* Menzel, Christopher. "Tropical and Subtropical Fruit". ''Encyclopedia of Agricultural Science Volume 4''. . Charles J Arntzen. New York: Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc., Academic Press, 2012. 380–382.
External links
Pineapple Fruit Facts
—information on pineapples from California Rare Fruit Growers
The California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. (CRFG) is a non-profit organization of rare exotic fruit enthusiasts, hobbyists and amateur horticulturists based in California. The CRFG, founded in 1968, promotes rare fruits in the Southern California m ...
"The Strange History of the 'King-Pine
from ''The Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phi ...
''
{{Authority control
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Articles containing video clips
Crops originating from the Americas
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