Pink Pineapple
 

16 years of design and development has gone into the GM of a pineapple with pink flesh.

I am curious. Has anyone tried one and was it worth it?

Had no idea there was such a thing as a pink pineapple. Does it cost more? If so, I'll stick to the yellow ones.

No. Not sure I would try one. A good ripe pineapple is pretty good just as nature intended. GMO plants tend to alter taste and in my opinion the alteration makes for a poorer tasting product.

I sadly haven’t eaten a pineapple in months. Whacky.

Most of the pineapples we currently consume are not as nature intended (if I recall correctly) - they aren't GMO, but they've been cross-bred for an overall lower acid fruit. Ok, so sort of as nature intended ;)

I have seen these for about a year or so and wanted to try one but they are expensive! I might break down. The color comes from lycopene which is the same thing that makes tomatoes red. There is nothing unsafe about it. Lots of fruits are cross bred and modified to make for a better product.

Big difference (IMnshO) between cross-breeding and GMO. Cross-breeding theoretically could occur in nature, should the pineapple and tomato (or pick your fruit) be able to conceive in nature. If the good folks at UC Davis decide to genetically modify the Ananas with lycopene, troublesome. Who knows - a spiky tomato could escape the lab!

We're doing an excursion to a pineapple farm while we're in Hawaii next month.

As a kid the only pineapple I was exposed to was canned and I didn't really care for it. While in the Navy we flew to Hawaii for a few days and a group of us decided to drive out to a pineapple farm where I got to sample fresh, ripe pineapple. So much better than the shipped in from wherever fresh pineapple in mainland stores. Such a simple little thing, a first taste of good ripe pineapple, but I cherish that memory. I hope my wife has the same eye opening experience I had and says, "so that's what pineapple is suppose taste like". Might even find time for a cocktail that's garnished with a spear of pineapple.:p

Which is why I said modified in addition to saying cross bred.

Haven't tried a pink pineapple but am a huge fan of the white-fleshed pineapple grown on the island of Kaua'i - https://kauaisugarloaf.com/

Boggie Dog , enjoy your trip and remember that one doesn't need to buy any specially-packed or approved for travel pineapples to bring on a plane home. The ones sold at the local Costcos will be the Maui Gold variety. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hawa...nd-thread.html

Is any domesticated plant or animal as nature intended? Everything is GMO since man first met the grey wolf.

Don't mind a pina colada, not sure it will taste any better in pink. And how will I know which is the ham and which is the pineapple on the pizza?

No plane. Ship out of Long Beach for a 15 day round trip (retirement is good). I plan on bringing a couple back but probably will have to buy at the farm or other vendor. We have 4 port of calls in Hawaii and one in Mexico in order to comply with U.S. law. Four sea days from Hawaii to Mexico then another night on to Long Beach so hoping I can find some not 100% ripe examples.

There's a difference between cross breeding two tomatoes species and genetically changing a tomato plant by inserting some other type plant DNA. That's why we see non-GMO signs in the produce department of stores.

Very long time career produce guy told me the easier it is to pull a frond out of the top means the riper the pineapple.

I worked 12-hour shifts at the Dole cannery the summer I got out of school. You see a lot of pineapples each night.

There were three lady supervisors in charge of the entire canning floor, and line ladies in charge of each line.

Only a couple times that summer, a 'sweet pine' came down the line. When one was spotted, the table lady immediately called the three supervisors. They got first bite, then the table lady, and then the workers. I didn't really understand the first time - I cut a bite, popped it in my mouth and almost melted. Of course, I immediately went for a second bite and got my knuckles rapped with the table lady's knife.

'Sweet pine' was never a whole pineapple - only part. You learn to recognize it. It is part of the pineapple that has reached absolute perfect peak ripeness and when you see it on the line, it's only been picked less than a day earlier.

It was so rare that there was a strict protocol in the cannery - the three supervisors, all of whom had been working there for many years, still dropped everything for a rare bite of 'sweet pine'.

I will never taste 'sweet pine' again in my lifetime - the odds are simply against. But all these years later, I still remember the taste. Probably the closest I will ever get to tasting ambrosia.

It's all selective breeding. Whether someone wants to eat a tomato whose mother was a Beagle is another matter.

You were in Hawaii or elsewhere?

Is there even more significance if it's upside down?

Only if it's on a door.

I figured when GMO came up in post 1 that this thread would devolve into questionable logic about plant science (again) but it’s really outdone itself in a few posts.

Meanwhile, the pineapple isn't really pink. It is just the appearance of pink. ;)

I totally get it. We have a home in the southern Philippines.

Anywhere they grow pineapple and allow them to fully ripen in the fields, you're going to have the sweetest and tastiest pineapple ever. You can smell the pineapple from several feet away.

Bolding mine. I don't care what color the pineapple is, and am generally amused by the whole GMO discussion. I would try it.

But your question is shocking and most definitely defies all natural laws. If we need more legislation banning the foods we eat, this should come long before a pink pineapple. :)

I've heard that too but In my experience of growing the things, I've learned it means the top of the pineapple is rotten and dying.

The commercial pineapple cultivars are like the Cavendish bananas. May flower (purple blue flower) but there's no seeds.

Me too.

Hawaiian pizza is Canada's greatest gift to food. This is accepted science. It does feel as though pineapple on pizza is more contentious than GMO food. :D

You can't get good pineapples in Australia – they're too sour – but I had a place in Costa Rica a few years ago and one of those pineapples would fill the house with a sweet smell they were so good.

I have worked at several pineapple farms and shipping ports in Mindinao. At certain times of the year, juice will literally squirt out when the top is cut off. Incredible stuff. Most/all of that fruit goes to Asia and Europe. None to the US unfortunately.

Wow, that sounds like an amazing experience! It must have been a special treat for working so hard at the cannery. Thank you for sharing your story, makes me want to plant my own pineapple, maybe someday I can taste that rare sweet pine. 😊

Depending on where you are located it might not be difficult, although wait time could be a while.... search Youtube for growing pineapple from grocery. Keep in mind that you need to use a pineapple sourced from within the US if you are in the US (they irradiate a good chunk of produce that they import so those would likely not be viable)

Came back from a 6 week trip and found that one of my myriad of pineapples has put out a bud. This currently-fruiting plant was the top from a pineapple that fruited in 2021 from a pineapple purchased from a supermarket in 2018. So this new plant is putting out a 2nd generation fruit in a very non-tropical country.

IME, takes 3 years from top rooting to fruiting. The 1st plant put out a fruit 3 years later and again 2 years after that. Another supermarket top also took 3 years to put out its first fruit.

As an aside, was in Malaysia and there's a whole bunch of cultivars, none of which are like the Dole/Del Monte sterile cultivars found in N. America. Taste different too.

I'd be curious to see if the flavour improves. A properly ripe fruit should be quite sweet as all the sugars should have developed. It should be easier to grow pineapples and other tropical fruits in YVR vs. YYZ. There have been times I've been tempted to try growing certain tropical fruits over here but most would not survive the first winter out. If I had a proper greenhouse, it might be possible, but in the city? not a chance. That said, maybe calamansi..... or as they call it in Malaysia, "Lime joo"

Flavour depends on sun and other factors. Some are not as sweet and maybe more acidic. Depends on the cultivar (I had 2 last year). I do let it develop to full ripeness by letting the fruit go yellow/gold. The pineapples don't get that much direct sun due to house design and orientation.

As for lemons and limes, possible to grow in cooler sheltered (conditions) with lots of thermal blocks (jugs/barrels of water that are in full sunlight and can absorb and emit heat).

I was actually thinking of lychee or longan (rumbutan if I could a cultivar where the flesh doesn't stick to the stone). I've done guava with a few smallish fruits in a container. Calamansi in a few circumstances until I accidentally snapped the trunk of the tree moving it to somewhere warm. But would love some sort of dwarf lychee tree (or find a forever home with a sizable piece of land for a special greenhouse).

Limes (and kumquats) would be the easiest. Much smaller before they bear fruit. Never seen a longan, lychee, mata kuching, etc. but rambutans are generally huge.

Calamansi start fruiting pretty small (maybe a foot tall) and bush out quite a bit. The problem is that they become top heavy quickly with the fruit and can break. Lychee would be the challenge. There are at least one cultivar that is "dwarf" but even then you're looking at like 10' or so at full growth (think dwarf apple tree in size) but even then they're not really meant to be moved a lot if at all.

Pineapples have a bit more flexibility. Unfortunately there's nowhere in the house I can grow one (likely same issue as you). Guava is a bit more sturdy but are slow growth.

I remember watching the movie at an after-party 😂

Had pink pineapple at Victoria and Alberts at the Grand Floridian. The head waiter explained to us that they're imported daily and the vines/fronds are cut-off before shipment so they can't be replanted or pollinated here in the States. Not sure if it's true or not, but it was delicious.

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Below is a link to an article about pink pineapples from a US-based, worldwide news organization. The article describes the Rubyglow pineapple and it's origin, taste, and recent rise in demand. The article also talks about other luxury fruits, but those would fall outside the topic of this thread.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/19/busin...ice/index.html