Planting Pineapples

[ChrisGreaves]

I can't ever remember buying a pineapple before, but I bought one this week ($cdn5 at Bruno's across the street) after reading This Article

I don't particularly like the taste of pineapple, not having grown up with them, although I like a bit in a sweet-and-sour sauce when I go to The Mandarin.

What are my chances of success bottling it, in chunks, sweetened? I think it is the acidic taste that puts me off, but cubes bottled ought to be useful in soups and sauces next winter?

[HansV]

See Combined Preservation Technologies for Fruits and Vegetables: Training Manual (Preservation of Pineapple)

[VegasNath]

Sounds way too much like hard work to me.....

[ChrisGreaves]

Sounds way too much like hard work to me.....

I agree. I can always fall back on "cube, add two spoons sugar, steam in sealed bottles for 60 minutes"

[Claude]

Sounds way too much like hard work to me.....

I agree. I can always fall back on "cube, add two spoons sugar, steam in sealed bottles for 60 minutes"

You're right, too much work. I preserve all foods by drying them with a food dryer which has many additional functions. I buy the vegetables and fruit in bulk when they are in (local) season (and therefore cheap) and dry them. As long as you keep the dried product in an airtight container, it'll last a long time. Some food, for example beans, need to be blanched before drying, but it's really simple and easy to do.

[johbot]

But the idea of putting them in a container and sprinkiling with sugar, then leaving for few days sounds easy enough. Then just seal the jars. And if it doesn't work, what have you lost?

[ChrisGreaves]

And if it doesn't work, what have you lost?

Your life?
I sterilized mine yesterday - brought to boil and then boiled for 2 hours.
Pineapple is acidic, right?
But somehow just adding sugar doesn't seem to me to be an effective way of removing potentially harmful bacteria.
I'm not paranoid, but I do think that not-boiling can lead to tummy upsets.
I've dried fruit for years (in Aus.) using the Sodium meta-bisulphite technique. That worked (I used to leave them on the back squab(?) of the car, behind the back seat, carefully parking my car to maximize the sun exposure!)

[Hey Jude]

As I perused the topic, "Planting Pineapples" I was taken back several decades to my days in Paraguay on the Brazilian border. We literally planted pineapples. We learned from the local Guarani indigenous folks, that in order to successfully grow pineapples there, they needed to be spaced in proper intervals among the banana plants. There was a symbiotic relationship between the 2 species which produced fabulous fruits. We had 24 banana plants and in between them we planted the tops from pineapples which we had eaten. I recall needing at least 3 foot between them because of the pineapple greens, but we had tasty fruit. It took about a year to get edible fruit because of the rain-forest climate where we lived. A beautiful red blossom begins to grow which eventually turns into the pineapple. There was nothing finer than going out and cutting a fresh pineapple and turning it into upside-down cake, or blending for fresh juice, or just eating the fresh pulp. Yummmm great topic Chris

[DaveA]

Boy, was this ever hijacked from the start.
"Planting " to "Preserving" in the first post. Not one word about "Planting"

[ChrisGreaves]

Not one word about "Planting"

Speaking of "planting", I was visited yesterday by a graduate student going for an M.A. in Social Anthropology specifically studying the impact of vermicomposting on the lives of people who had tried it out, both successfully and unsuccessfully.
I am one of the successful.
She arrived at 2pm. Had Lunch? No. So I made up a lovely salad of fresh home-grown bean sprouts, some finely chopped red pepper, a small handful of raisins and a dash of my home made salad dressing.
She planted herself down (see?!!) at the table and declared it to be the finest salad she had ever etc. etc. etc.
Of course, she might just have been saying that.
Well, anyway, I gave her the tour of my domestic facilities from kitchen scraps container to finished house plants & bags of reconditioned soil, and showed her my pineapple top, the jars of bottled pineapple cubes. She asked why I bottled it instead of eating it, so i told her I can't stand the taste of pineapples.
Huh?
Of course, I dare not give away my bottled stuff unless I've proved it non-toxic (earlier in this thread) so today I cracked open a jar and made a repeat of yesterday's salad but with some fine and sweetened chunks of pineapple.
I declare it to be the finest salad I have ever made/tasted.
And I'm not just saying that.
I think I've become a convert to pineapple.

[ChrisGreaves]

... or just eating the fresh pulp. Yummmm

Thanks Hey Jude. Obvioulsy we need a special forum for "Planting Pineapples", but in the meantime this one seemed like the best forum to ask.
I enjoyed your description of life in the rain forest (must be like Queensland where pineapples are grown), and as you can see the little thread has converted me to a yummy too!

[Hey Jude]

Boy, was this ever hijacked from the start.
"Planting " to "Preserving" in the first post. Not one word about "Planting"

I tried to bring it back to the original thread; "Planting Pineapples" BUT alas you are correct, there was no mention of planting in that post. Of course, since the fruit can take anywhere from 1-3 years to mature, I know they won't grow in Canada, and not in OH either unless you have a year-round all climate greenhouse, which wouldn't be a bad idea, but at my age, I'm not into that much work. I'll go buy them from the grocer and be happy!!

[ChrisGreaves]

... since the fruit can take anywhere from 1-3 years to mature, ...

That's the trouble withe Americans, always in so much of a hurry.
I *was* going to make a post, in this very thread, three years from now, about how I planted the top, watered it, etc and "look at the fruit", but now I'm not so sure ....

[Hey Jude]

... since the fruit can take anywhere from 1-3 years to mature, ...

That's the trouble withe Americans, always in so much of a hurry.
I *was* going to make a post, in this very thread, three years from now, about how I planted the top, watered it, etc and "look at the fruit", but now I'm not so sure ....

I am a Brit by birth does that change your opinion? I'll be sure to look for that post in 3 years to see how much you are enjoying that fruit

[ChrisGreaves]

... does that change your opinion?

Hey Jude, I doubt if anything that you said or did could change my opinion of you now!

[Hey Jude]

... does that change your opinion?

Hey Jude, I doubt if anything that you said or did could change my opinion of you now!

Whew!! Glad that's settled

[ChrisGreaves]

I can't ever remember buying a pineapple before, but I bought one this week ($cdn5 at Bruno's across the street) after reading This Article

Update: (or more correctly, Uppineapple)
The top has been sitting in 1cm of water in a 4-lire ice-cream carton, about four feet from my SW-facing window.

PineappleTops_HPIM2791 (Small).JPG

[ChrisGreaves]

See Combined Preservation Technologies for Fruits and Vegetables: Training Manual (Preservation of Pineapple)

Please see also:
21. Why Won’t Pineapple and Jell-O® Be Friends?