Pineapple: the King of Fruits

[Music] pineapples are oddly ubiquitous a common motif in art for centuries or even sculpted into furniture and cover your grandmother's kitchen wallpaper they're an ironic example of something that has become common precisely because they are exotic they are such an important cultural touchstone that they adorn the tops of famous cathedrals and serve as the domicile from one of the world's most popular cartoon characters some 300 billion pineapples are farmed each year and a 2017 yugo poll found pineapples to be the sixth most popular fruit ahead of all varieties of apples and oranges but pineapples are certainly not without controversy they're well known to be the most controversial of pizza toppings so much so that in 2017 the president of iceland opined that he would ban pineapple pizza if he had the authority the history of pineapples the king of fruits deserves to be remembered contrary to what many seem to assume pineapples do not grow on trees rather a pineapple is the fruit of an herbaceous perennial a short stocky plant with waxy leaves growing usually between just over three feet just under five feet tall the development of the fruit is complex a number of fleshy leaves form around a stem which lengthens and then produces numerous leaves in close spirals this grows into a spike-like stalk of little reddish purple flowers the ovaries of these flowers then develop into berries which coalesce into a compact multiple fruit after one fruit forms the plant produces side shoots that produce more fruit these side shoots called suckers can also be harvested to produce more plants depending upon variety the fruit is usually ready for picking about five months after the original flowering and approximately a year after the last harvest while the design of a pineapple appears to be random these are actually tightly spun helices whose numbers generally follow a mathematical fibonacci sequence the species is originally native to the drainage of the paraguay river between modern brazil and paraguay it's been cultivated by humans for some 3000 years and spreads both a food crop and for fibers used in textiles throughout south america before the arrival of the first europeans the first known europeans to encounter the fruit were sailors on columbus's second voyage in november 1493 on the caribbean island of guadalupe a group went ashore to find a carib village that had been deserted in the village were piles of freshly gathered fruit including pineapples and describing the fruit that members of the expedition used the term pina de indes meaning pine of the indians an allusion to the exterior of the fruit appearing like a giant pine cone the name actually took some time to develop and the fruit was called by various names most commonly a version of nana's are ananas derived from the south american tupian language meaning roughly excellent fruit the name pineapple to refer to the fruit was not used in english until the 17th century and was often used in conjunction with ananas well into the 19th century oddly the english use of the word pineapple predates the european discovery of the pineapple with the term being used to describe what today we call a pine cone as early as the 14th century the term pine cone itself did not appear until 1694 suggesting that it was the name of the fruit that drove the change in the name for the cone still pineapples are generally only called pineapples in english with most other languages using some version of ananas or nanas while the fruit was an established staple food crop among the indigenous people of south america when it was first discovered by columbus the plant requires warm temperatures generally between the high 70s and 80s fahrenheit or 25 to 30 degrees celsius and full sun that is it was unsuited to the european climate europeans did however cultivate the fruit in european colonies in tropical zones portuguese took the fruit to saint helena africa and india in the 16th century the spanish were cultivating pinas in the philippines at least in the 17th century where fibers from the red spanish cultivar were used in weaving fine fabrics pineapples were particularly valuable for seafaring as eating pineapple prevents scurvy but in europe the fruit was extremely rare could not be grown locally and tended to spoil quickly after being picked and fruits imported across the ocean were often spoiled despite rave reviews for the taste of the fruit it was not suitable for mass export and plantations in the new world focused on sugar production instead thus in renaissance europe pineapples were rare and expensive and so became a symbol of wealth and decadent well actual pineapples were beyond the reach of most people pineapples became a common motif in art and architecture commonly sculpted on bed posts cloth and on weather veins symbolizing opulence pineapples were so valuable as a symbol that the fruit whose cost in england was the equivalent of 5 000 british pounds today could be rented as bbc news notes less well-off folk might hire one for a special event dinner party even just to jointly tuck one under an arm and show off stroll by the 1770s bbc continues a pineapple of the finest flavor became a phrase used for anything that was the best of the best in fact the pineapple became a symbol of royalty anointed by god by placing a crown of leaves at the top 17th century french pharmacist pierre pomay wrote about them it was not a just appellation to call the anunnas the king of fruits because it is much the finest and best of all that are upon the face of the earth it is for this reason that the king of kings has placed a crown upon the head of it which is an essential mark of its royalty there is a famous portrait of charles ii king of great britain being presented with a pineapple by his royal gardener john rose the symbol of kingship is particularly important given that charles ii represented the restoration of the monarchy after the period of the english commonwealth following the english civil war but the pineapple in the painting might also have been a surreptitious way of alluding to charles ii's famous royal appetites including fathering a dozen children with seven different mistresses the fruit also took on religious significance based on its composite nature the idea is that the entire plant gives its life to produce a single fruit thus when the great fire of london gutted old saint paul's cathedral in 1666 architect christopher wren added golden pineapples to the spires of the church meant to symbolize london's rising from the ashes the pineapples of saint paul's cathedral are the symbol of the city's rebirth pineapples were somewhat less expensive britain's north american colonies which were physically closer to the caribbean where the fruit was cultivated the website of indiana university of pennsylvania notes that some accounts tell of new england sea captains who upon returning from trade routes in the caribbean or pacific would place a pineapple outside their homes as a symbol of a safe return in america the pineapple became a symbol of hospitality while less rare than in europe pineapples were still difficult to obtain the website of the lasher art gallery of new york in bermuda writes the symbolic gesture engendered by the mere presence of a pineapple at the table evolved over time into a cultural ritual with the pineapple coming to express the warmest possible greeting a hostess could extend to her guests who felt deeply honored by a hostess who spared no expense in her effort to facilitate a communal feeling of inclusiveness and respect in the 18th century the dutch republic became a pineapple distribution hub for europe through the dutch west india company with pineapples grown in the dutch colony of suriname methods for successfully growing pineapples in hot houses heated by burning tanner's bark bark from an oak tree in alcoves developed in the 18th century when a pineapple was grown in the hot house of matthew decker the first baronet of richmond in 1720 thought to be the first cultivated pineapple in england he commissioned dutch painter theodorus nature to paint a painting commemorating the event despite difficulties gardeners at the french palace of versailles managed to produce a pineapple that was presented to king louis xv in 1733. one legend claims he was so eager to taste the fruit that he bit through and injured his upper lip another says that he had a piece sent to every noble in the country so they could taste it for themselves the website of the palace of versailles writes quickly became one of the king's favorite fruits and a new hot house was promptly erected according to eugene walter the king spent some thousand francs a year at the hot house alone actually the plants that produced the pineapple later provided samples which were sent as diplomatic gifts hot houses capable of growing pineapples became something of a competition among the nobility of europe john murray the earl of dunmar who was governor of colonial virginia played a central role in the outbreak of the american war for independence was so proud of his hot house in dunmore park that he had it decorated with a giant pineapple the website just history knows that in 1782 the duke of bullion's home in france supposedly had some 4 000 pots of pineapples the end of the century even catherine the great of russia was eating pineapples from her own gardens the transportation of the pineapple was greatly improved with the development of dr nathaniel bagshaw ward's wardian case a terrarium like glazed and sealed glass box that allowed exotic plants to better survive long sea journeys in 1842 in the united states pineapples tend to be associated with our 50th state while pineapples may have been brought by european explorers as early as the 16th century the first definitive record of the pineapple being cultivated in hawaii was in 1813. when don francisco do paula marin a spanish advisor to king kamehameha wrote in his journal this day i planted pineapples and an orange tree the economic exploitation the crop began in 1849 as a means of supplying the new demand in california due to the gold rush however spoilers still limited the commercial value of the crop and sugar production was the primary cash industry of the kingdom canning of pineapples in the united states began in 1865 in baltimore canning pineapples from cuba in the bahamas many innovations and mechanical pineapple peelers and slicers were developed in baltimore but the introduction of tariffs in the 1890s increased the cost of importing pineapples in the industry in baltimore faded canning of pineapples in hawaii began as early as 1882 but sugar was still the more lucrative crop and pineapples were not a significant part of the economic impetus that drove the overthrow of the kingdom of hawaii in 1893 however the annexation of hawaii in 1898 meant the removal of tariffs but then the successful cultivar smooth cayenne type of pineapple that was vigorous tolerant of most pests and diseases and had fruit of good quality that canned well but introduced to the islands pineapple was also found to thrive at altitudes in hawaii that were unsuitable for sugarcane plantations which required irrigation much of this land was developed from pasture by homesteaders research in hawaii developed techniques in cultivar production and pest resistance and major producers were formed del monte fresh produce was formed by californian alfred e james in 1898. dole hawaiian pineapple company was formed by james drummond dole in 1901 and maui land and pineapple was formed in 1909 aided by robust marketing campaigns hawaii became the top supplier of pineapples in the world in the 1930s once an exotic local fruit it is now an important item on the american menu while there was competition growing in foreign markets hawaii dominated sales of pineapple in the united states during the second world war production from competitors such as malaysia taiwan and the philippines was significantly disrupted in the 1960s hawaii was responsible for 80 percent of the world's pineapple but competition and world production from places with lower labor costs and the advent of refrigerator transportation slowly reduced the dominance of hawaiian pineapple production del monte and dole both shut down major pineapple operations in hawaii in the 1980s and today the state produces less than 10 percent of the pineapples that are sold worldwide but that connection between hawaii and pineapples it created a connection in the minds of people that connected polynesian culture and cuisine to pineapples and it was homage to polynesian culture that prompted animator stephen hillenburg to make a pineapple under the sea the home of spongebob squarepants one odd effect of the pineapple industry in the state of hawaii is that pineapples are one of the reasons that hawaii has no hummingbirds a remote archipelago hummingbirds never naturally made it across the ocean to hawaii and their importation is banned while there are many reasons not to introduce foreign species hummingbirds are specifically banned in hawaii because superior pineapples are produced from unpollinated fruit which will not go to seed hummingbirds are natural pollinators of pineapples and their importation in band to protect the quality of hawaiian pineapples when seeds are needed for propagation growers pollinate plants by hand well marketing campaigns seem to have forever linked hawaii to pineapples in fact pineapples have always had an association with the caribbean where they were first discovered by columbus in 1493 since 1661 the official coat of arms of jamaica has prominently featured pineapples alluding not just to the production of ananas but as a symbol of how different cultural minorities have come together to form a nation while pineapples are produced throughout the world's tropical zones the top producers today are costa rica the philippines brazil and indonesia as with many industrial operations there are criticisms for environmental reasons mostly because the use of pesticide and economic reasons as the lucrative crop seems to have failed to reduce local poverty perhaps the biggest controversy regarding pineapple however is whether it belongs on pizza well often associated with hawaii and even called hawaiian pizza the combination of sweet pineapple and ham on pizza was actually created in canada in 1962 by a greek immigrant called sampanopoulos since that time pineapple on pizza has become the subject of heated culinary and cultural debate a 2017 yougov poll found that 82 percent of people surveyed liked pineapple only a slim majority 53 percent like the fruit on their pizza nearly a third 29 said that they hated the idea while there are multiple cultivars of pineapple that are commercially available the vast majority sold in supermarkets in the united states and europe are the smooth cayenne variety experts say that when determining whether a pineapple is ripe it should have a consistent greenish yellow hue should have a firm shell but be slightly soft should have a sweet smell at the base of the fruit and the frogs at the top should pull easily pineapple will not continue to ripen after being picked and should be consumed within one or two days of purchase when cutting a pineapple some culinary specialists suggest first cutting off the top and letting the pineapple rest upside down for a half hour to better distribute its juices then cut off the bottom remove the skin and cut the fruit lengthwise into quarters making it easy to remove the hard central core today the pineapple that one cost the equivalent of 5 000 british pounds can be purchased in many uk supermarkets for less than a pound each it's rich in vitamins and includes an enzyme called bromeline which is an anti-inflammatory that can reduce your risk of cancer reduce pain from arthritis reduce recovery time after exercise and boost your immune system and as an added bonus can also be used to tenderize meat and so while you no longer have to be a king to afford a pineapple pineapple looks to retain its title as the king of fruits i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our web page at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 143,471

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, pineapple, hawaii

Id: g8j7FDPTEdI

Length: 15min 38sec (938 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 15 2021