A few things to know about pineapples: They are very high in Vitamin C and although they may become juicier and change colour, they don’t actually ripen after they have been harvested. Our pineapples, at the moment, come from Yeppoon and the Sunshine Coast. Unfortunately, COVID has been very harsh for the industry; a lot of pineapples used go to hotels and the airlines, this clearly has not been the case this year and household consumption has not really changed.
Twenty or so years ago the pineapple industry grew pineapples mostly for the cannery and juice. These are what we now call ‘factory pineapples’; they were not sweet at and sugar was added to enhance the taste. The new pineapples, which have nearly entirely replaced the old varieties in the fresh market, are a hybrid of fabulous sweet varieties imported around 20 years ago. I think they are fantastic to eat!
Removing the pineapple tops was done for two reasons: Firstly, the new pineapple plants each season are grown from the old plants and splitting the crowns is the easiest and most reliable way of doing this. Secondly, it made it easy for the new style pineapples to be easily distinguished from the older, not so good eating pineapples.
