The Bizarre History of Pineapples

the pineapple with a crown proudly upon its head it was once hailed as the king of the fruits it began as an exotic fruit hidden to only a single corner of the planet once it was discovered by europeans however it quickly spread around the world among european and american elites it became a symbol of wealth and prestige being purchased at prices which we today would find unimaginable this association with status reached such an extent that people would quite literally rent pineapples for the sole purpose of carrying them around in public in the modern age however thanks to industrialization people of all nations and classes regularly consume the 27 million metric tons of beloved pineapple produced each year what is the pineapple what is its hidden story well the history of the pineapple is a surprisingly fascinating and fun story ladies and gentlemen hello and welcome to fire of learning in this video we'll be covering that story so let's get to it the pineapple is the fruit of a plant native to south america contrary to popular misconception it does not grow on trees but rather a bush-like plant furthermore it is also technically not an individual fruit but rather a collection of berries on a single stock here likely in the area of southern brazil and paraguay specifically the pineapple was first domesticated thousands of years ago how exactly it was domesticated and spread is not well understood but what is clear is that it easily attracted the attention of peoples across the americas long before columbus arrived it was grown in many parts of south and central america the caribbean and as far north as mexico by peoples such as the aztecs because of this popularity it did not take long for the europeans to discover the plant once they arrived in the americas specifically the caribbean in 1492. according to fernando columbus the spanish explorers under his father christopher columbus first encountered it on the island of guadalupe in 1493 the first to write about the plant was michael de cueno who in 1495 first described the fruit along with many others that had been recently discovered the very first known recorded description of a pineapple reads as follows there are also some like artichoke plants but four times as tall which give a fruit in the shape of a pinecone twice as big whose fruit is excellent it can be cut with a knife like a turnip and seems to be very wholesome end quote the natives use the fruit as both food and decoration the europeans would do the same on his second voyage columbus attempted to bring back a sizable share to europe however he soon discovered a problem with transatlantic transportation nearly all of the pineapples rotted on the voyage save one which was reserved for the great king of spain ferdinand the second of aragon peter martyrdonguira records the king's description of his experience in trying the pineapple quote another fruit the most invincible king fernando acknowledges that he has eaten when brought from these same lands scaly a pine cone in appearance in warmth it surpasses it but in softness it is like a cucumber melon in flavor it surpasses every garden fruit for it is not a tree but a herb and like a thistle or a cantus those who ate them fresh on their native soil extol their sweetness with wonder as we can see king ferdinand was not the only european to find the fruit uncommonly pleasant man as a fruit with a sweetness that was rare in the contemporary european diet it would not be easily forgotten the spanish would call it the pina deindes the pine of the indians because of this resemblance to a pinecone this resemblance would also influence its name in english a language where especially in this time the word apple could be used to refer to fruit in general the pineapple however many european languages simply kept the name assigned to it by the native americans anonymous this is the first known european depiction of the fruit drawn in 1535 by gonzalo fernandez de obiedo once in the hands of the spanish portuguese and other curious europeans it was destined to follow them around the globe as they explored and settled new lands traveling to india china africa the pacific and more throughout the 16th century however the trouble for europeans themselves was the plant's growing requirements the pineapple can produce two to three crops within a single lifespan the first one consisting of one large fruit takes around two to four years after that it may produce several smaller fruits to do this it strongly prefers a climate much warmer than europe's add to this the fact that it did not travel long distances very well as columbus first discovered and it is easy to see why it was not readily available in europe due to these demands in production and transportation the cost of a pineapple in europe and anglo america would eventually reach prices that as we will see in a moment were absolutely insane by our standards today yet this scarcity only increased the interest of europeans and as a consequence it would evolve into a symbol of affluence and status for the moment however europeans and colonists in northern america were trying to grow the fruit closer to home in the mid 17th century europeans the dutch in particular began experimenting with greenhouses as greenhouse technology advanced and spread to places like england france and beyond it wasn't long until people began to put pineapples in them this became common in the 18th and 19th centuries growing pineapples became a common pastime for many aristocrats especially in england which developed a bit of an obsession with king pine these pineries did increase production but production was still not possible on a large scale for the time being colonial americans had tried in virginia but discovered that the climate was inadequate even there as a result the pineapple remained a rare and expensive item how expensive well there was quite a bit of variation but for one single pineapple an american in the 18th century could expect to pay in today's equivalent perhaps up to eight thousand dollars thus not even the very wealthy treated pineapples as an arbitrary snack they were primarily used as decoration for parties and social gatherings and eaten only once the fruit began to rot it became such a clear sign of status and wealth that some individuals were even willing to rent pineapples to carry them around i asked those of you who followed the instagram page in a poll whether you would rather rent or purchase a pineapple with no context of course and these were the results most of you would prefer to rent a pineapple for a single night which is probably a financially sound decision given how quickly it depreciates in value and that's why i'm offering you a limited time 50 discount at the fire of learning pineapple rental shop because of uh youtube's rules i have to clarify that's a joke moving on even depictions of pineapples became popular they featured prominently in the art of the era porcelain plates were made in their shape their shape was carved into buildings in the bases of statues here's a building constructed in 1761 by john murray the fourth earl of dunmore and a huge fan of spongebob pineapples reign as the exorbitantly priced king of the fruits was not to last forever however in the mid 19th century industrialization would end its scarcity and therefore the symbolism of affluence allowing the fruit to be brought to the common man by the mid-19th century pineapple prices began to fall as transport improved production took off in places like the azores for europe and the caribbean for america the most famous pineapple production location however would be hawaii towards the end of the 19th century hawaii was annexed into the united states which as you would expect made american economic activity on the islands much simpler and less costly in 1899 22 year old james drummle dole cousin of the governor of hawaii sanford dole moved to the hawaiian island of oahu here he would found the hawaiian pineapple company or hapko this would eventually evolve into the dole food company though following in the footsteps of the englishman john kidwell james dole was the most significant of pioneers in pineapple production in hawaii eventually being called king of the pineapples up until the 1950s hawaii alone produced about 70 percent of the world's pineapples since then other countries have stepped up their pineapple game namely in southeast asia but with costa rica being the country which produces the most pineapples in the world as of 2017 and so there we have it the pineapple is a complicated and unusual fruit but a brief look into its history makes it quite clear that any difficulties in acquiring it were always considered worth it i hope you enjoyed this video if so i invite you to come check out the rest of fire of learning and to subscribe to see more videos like this in the future to help support the channel there is a link to my patreon page in the description i'd like to thank our current patrons listed here for their support fire of learning is also on instagram and i have a science channel much like this called lusinox thank you for watching

Channel: Fire of Learning

Views: 318,130

Rating: 4.9438338 out of 5

Keywords: Pineapple, Ananas, Food history, Pineapple pit, Greenhouse, Dole, Hawaii

Id: p3-uKgiyE3Y

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 13 2021

Reddit Comments

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"VERY STRANGE HISTORY !!!!!!!!!"