The Pineapple
The pineapple (Ananas comosus), a native of Brazil and Paraguay in South America, is the quintessential tropical fruit. It has a long and interesting history as a symbol of opulence.
The fruit was discovered growing in the wild by Amazonian tribes, and they are believed to have begun cultivating it by around 2000 B.C., thus making the pineapple one of the world’s oldest crops. It was Christopher Columbus who spotted the fruit on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 and carried it back to Spain, where its resemblance to a pine cone earned it the Spanish name of pina (which is the root of its modern English name). When first cultivated in European greenhouses in the 17th century, it became a status symbol of the social elite. In the beginning of the 18th century, the fruit was introduced into England as an exotic luxury, afforded only by the wealthy, and was much admired for its unusual shape. During the Napoleonic Wars, English caricaturists used the fruit to symbolise high living and opulence.
The world’s leading pineapple producers are Thailand, Philippines, Brazil and China. India ranks fifth, with an annual output of about 1.2 million tons.In India, the fruit is cultivated mainly in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa and on a smaller scale in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Biharand Uttar Pradesh.
The pineapple is a herb that grows to a height of 2.5 to 5 feet with a spread of 3 to 4 feet. Leaves are long and needle-tipped, bearing sharp spines on the margins. They may be all green or may have red or yellow stripes down the middle or near the margins. The fruit grows on a stalk in the centre of the rosette of leaves. Technically, it is not a fruit, but a mass of individual berries fused to the central stalk. It has a tough, waxy rind that is initially dark green but turns to yellow, orange-yellow or reddish on ripening. The fruit is harvested only after it is fully ripe. It does not become sweeter after harvesting since there are no starch reserves to be converted into sugar.
The medicinal and nutritive value of the pineapple is very high. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, including calcium, potassium, fibre, and vitamin C. In addition, it contains bromelain, a digestive enzyme. Also, just one cup of pineapple provides 73% of the daily recommended amount of manganese – a mineral essential for your body to build bone and connective tissues. Further, it is low in fat and cholesterol.
The flesh of the ripe fruit can be eaten as it is, used in salads, cooked in cakes and puddings, or made into sauces or preserves. In the Philippines, fermented pineapple juice is processed into a gel-like consistency to make a popular dessert known as Nata de Pina. The pineapple lends itself readily to canning, and this is the favoured method to increase its shelf life and make it available even during off-season. Canned pineapple slices and juice are consumed as dessert, in fruit salads, and as a topping or ingredient in ice cream,cakes and pastries.
In Africa and Gautemala, the tender shoots of the pineapple plant are eaten in salads. Fibre extracted from pineapple leaves is used to make fishing nets, coarse cloth and caps in various Asian and African countries. The waste parts left from canning plants, including the skin,core and ends, are processed into alcohol, vinegar, and cattlefeed.
