You have probably eaten a pineapple in one form or another at least once during your lifetime. They are a versatile fruit than can be eaten raw, sauteed, or baked. Unlike bananas, oranges, or grapes, fresh pineapples cannot be used in gelatin mixtures. The reason for this is that pineapples contain an enzyme that breaks down the proteins in the gelatin.

Pineapples contain Vitamins A and C, but most importantly, they are a great source of an enzyme called Bromelain. Bromelain helps the body's diegestive system and it also has anti-inflammatory properties as well. It has been used to treat a number of medical problems, including heart disease, arthritis, and upper respiratory infections. When taken with antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs, Bromelain has been found to increase the actions of these drugs. This remarkable enzyme is found in all types of pineapples.

There are basically five different kinds of pineapple: the Kona Sugarloaf, the Natal Queen, the Perambuco, the Red Spanish, and the Smooth Cayenne. The first type of pineapple is the Kona Sugarloaf is a larger variety, usually weighing in around five pounds each. The juicy flesh of this fruit is white and it has a high sugar content. The outside of the pineapple is cylindrical in shape. Second is the Natal Queen variety, which usually weighs about two pounds each. The flesh is crisp and yellow. Its taste is considered to be mild. The Perambuco, which is also called the Eleuthera, can weigh in at about two to four pounds each. Its flesh ranges in color from white to a light yellow color. The fourth type, the Red Spanish, also weighs in around two to four pounds each. Its flesh is yellow. The overall shape of this pineapple is more squarish than the others. Lastly, the Smooth Cayenne is another larger variety, weighing in at five to six pounds each. Its flesh ranges in color from light yellow to yellow. The flesh is also high in sugar as well as acid. This variety is also cylindrical in shape. The Smooth Cayenne is grown in Hawaii. It is the most accessible variety of pineapple and it is most often found in grocery stores in the United States. All Pineapples can grow to up to a weight of twenty pounds, but, of course, the larger size would probably cause shipping problems.

In their natural form, every variety of pineapple has a rough, diamond-pattern skin. Their tastes vary slightly, though they all basically have the same juicy, tart taste. Pineapples are grown all year long in the warmer climates. The pineapple plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows to be two to five feet high, and three to four feet across. It has a short, thick stem with waxy leaves.

There are no such things as pineapple seeds in which to grow a plant. Pineapples are grown by propagation. That is, they are grown by replanting a part of themselves. The four common parts are: the slips, which are located on the stem below the fruit, the suckers that start at the leaves, the crowns---the leafy growth on top of the pineapple, and the ratoons that are located on the roots.

If you live in a warm-enough climate, you can grow your own pineapple plant. To do this, simply remove the crown from a fresh pineapple by twisting it off gently. Remove the bottom leaves, and then let the crown dry out for a couple days. You can then plant the crown in a sunny location, about two inches down into the earth. When the plants become a year old, they begin to flower. The flowers are pink in color, and small in size, and they resemble a pine cone. You will have to be patient, though, because it takes a year and a half for the plant to produce a pineapple. When a pineapple is ready to be picked, it has a solid sound to it when it is tapped on.

Pineapples are thought to have gotten their start in the Caribbean Islands from Spanish shipwrecks. The fruit is thought to have washed ashore from ships that met the terrible fate of destructive storms, or other such perils of the sea. The Spanish explorers knew that eating pineapple helped to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by a deficiency of Vitamin C, so they carried pineapples whenever it was possible.

When Christopher Columbus made his second voyage to the Caribbeans in 1493, he and his crew ate the unusual fruit they found there. They thought the fruit looked like a pine cone, so they dubbed it the Pine of the Indies. When they introduced it to the English later on, they added the word apple because they thought it should be associated with another delicious fruit that people enjoyed. And thus, the name pineapple was born.

Pineapples even went on to become a recognized symbol of hospitality. Homes and public buildings often sported pineapple ornamentals that were carved out of wood, stencilled onto furniture, and woven into fabrics, etc.

In the late eighteen hundreds, an Englishman by the name of Captain John Kidwell had the right idea when he successfully canned pineapple. But since the United States collected such a high tariff on canned pineapple, Captain Kidwell was unable to make selling canned pineapple a profitable business. He was forced to close his business in 1898. Amazingly, that was the same year that Hawaii became part of the United States, and the high tariff was removed. Two years later, a man named James Drummond Dole went to Hawaii with a thousand dollars, with degrees in business and agriculture, and with a dream of growing and canning pineapples. The following year, Dole started the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. His main goal was to make his canned pineapple available in every grocery store in the United States.

Today, the main pineapple plantations are still in Hawaii, on the islands of Maui and Oahu, respectively.

Written by K Sprang