Pineapple

I loves me some pineapple! And for some reason, the grocery stores here have had them on sale for the past several weeks, $2.99/each! Not cheap but not too expensive either. I have been eating about a pineapple a week as a result!

Here are some pineapple facts:
• There were 31,000 acres of pineapples grown in Hawaii in 2004.
• One third of the world's pineapple comes from Hawaii.
• You can grow your own pineapple plant by twisting the crown off a store bought pineapple, letting it dry for 2-3 days, then planting it.
• The pineapple is not a single fruit as generally assumed, but a cluster of 100-200 tiny fruitlets.
• It takes two years for a pineapple plant to produce, and each plant typically produces at most two pineapples in its life.
• The pineapple is originally native to Brazil and Paraguay. Sailors brought them to the West Indies long before the arrival of Europeans, although it was White merchants who first introduced it to Hawaii.
• Pineapples are the only edible members of the bromeliad family of plants.
• Of the hundreds of varieties of pineapples, Smooth Cayenne is by far the most prevalent. Three other varieties are gaining in popularity: Red Spanish pineapples have a tougher skin that make shipping easier; Sugar Loaf pineapples are very large and heavy; Golden Supreme pineapples have lower acid and more sweetness.