My pick of the week is the topless gold pineapples from central Queensland. We buy from a group of farmers who market under the Pure Gold banner. A few things to know about pineapples. Although they may become juicier and change colour, they don’t actually ripen at all after they have been harvested. They are very high in vitamin C.
Ten years or so ago the pineapple industry grew pineapples mostly for the cannery and juice. These are what we now call factory pineapples and were not at all sweet and the processors added sugar for 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 15 years ago. I think they are fantastic to eat.
Removing the 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. These next few months, or until the end of July is considered to be the best time of the year for pineapples.
