lori in az

Aloha!

I dont want to buy & ship pineapple from overpriced touristy places.

Is there any local place that can do for less?

If we decide to bring pineapples home ourselves...can we do that on plane? carry-on or in suitcase?

Thanks!

thehoax

you can buy them at costco. A bunch of roadside stands actually get them from there;-) Or, you could just buy them at your local grocery store and say they came from here. I have found it easier than having to bring them on the flight with me. I guess the nostalgia has left in that respect.

cmn.jcs

Checked luggage will be fine. The past 3 times my dad has gone back to the mainland from Hawaii, he's brought one suitcase that was full of pineapples.

Happy travels!

matd

You can buy them at the Dole plantation already packaged to go through the airport.

Or, as previously mentioned, Costco sells them for like a dollar. Though I'm not sure how you get those past agriculture.

bocastephen

Costco sells the Maui Gold pineapples for about $3-4 a piece. Local supermarkets may have the Dole or Maui Gold brand for about the same price.

Ag inspection is not a problem - pineapples are permitted without restriction, and don't listen to any tourist places selling $10 pineapples that insist pineapples must be stamped or purchased from an "authorized" vendor. As long as the pineapple is free of dirt or bugs, it's fine - and I've never had an inspector even check my pineapples for dirt (nor would I buy a pineapple with dirt or bugs in the first place).

If you want to bring a bunch of them back, just buy a cheap hardside suitcase while you're there to check-in on the way back (although you can sometimes get boxes from Costco with the flaps still attached and tape the boxes).

If you buy a lot, make sure you select a mix of ripe, ripening and unripe so you don't need to eat them all at once. Hawaiian-grown, naturally ripened pineapples taste much better than the gas-ripened crap imported from Central America's factory farms...and you're supporting local American agriculture if you buy Maui Gold.

cblaisd

The local Goodwill and Salvation Army usually has lots of suitcases in the $3-5 range.

And you get a free cultural experience too

cawhite

My last couple trips, Safeway had Maui Gold pineapple on sale for $.79/pound for those with Safeway a rewards card. Maybe not as cheaply priced as at Costco, but it was less than the membership would've cost me.

No need to declare to Ag (IME) - I've flown with them both in checked baggage and carry-on luggage this year.

As suggested by Lavarock7 in an older post on this thread, I stopped by the Ag station on my way out of the airport and asked about taking pineapple back to the mainland that had been bought at the grocery store rather than the airport/Dole Plantation/etc. They said they were fine with it. (For a point of reference, this was HNL in January 2011.)

jtkauai

Inexpensive Maui pineapples can be found at Costco and (sometimes) Safeway.

The very best Hawaiian pineapples however aren't there. They are backyard grown, and may be found at local farmers markets around the state or at backyard fruit stands.

The different is huge and unmistakable.

PS: And yes, all pineapples can be brought back to the Mainland.

Tony10s

No need to buy or bring extra suitcases just for pineapples
A simple cardboard box ) taped up (
Will suffice.
Most airlines allow one box per passenger as free luggage FROM Hawaii to mainland destinations
Most allow a 3 pack as part of your carry on allocation.

hardgrove156

Just got back from Hawaii today left from 0gg airport on Maui. Did not want to bother getting boxes for pineapples. Brought home 3. No way would the boxes fit in suitcase and could not carry 3 pineapples. Just put 2 in one checked bag and one in the other loose. The agricultural is right in front of check-in with a screener conveyor belt.I told him there was 3 pineapples in the 2 bags (they were my checked bags) he said that was fine. And that was it. I even called the airport line I was using and they said they had to be boxed. I figured all I could lose was 9 dollars of pineapples if I couldn't bring them back. Well I really didn"t get my pineapples the airline lost both suitcases. Hopefully they will be trucked to my address tomorrow.

DJGMaster1

Do you still want the rinds when they are done with your pineapples?

wharvey

I never understand why people want to bring back the pineapples.... usually can get the same pineapples cheaper at my local store.... and I did not have to lug them flight to flight.

Mary2e

You can't - or at least it's difficult to find Hawaiian pineapples on the East Coast.

They definitely taste differently. Plus those from Hawaii are generally sweeter.

guavajam

Checked with USDA here in Honolulu, and you can buy pineapple from Costco and box it up yourself to send to the mainland. You can take it on as a carry on or check it as luggage.

bocastephen

Timely bump - if anyone in the Vancouver-Seattle region is looking for Hawaiian pineapples now that Costco stopped carrying Maui Gold, there are a couple of food markets on Robson St in Vancouver selling Hawaiian pineapples from Dole (same pineapples carried by Costco in O'ahu/Big Island) - under $4 per pineapple. We drove them back to Seattle without any problems at the border (of course they didn't ask if we had anything to declare, so we didn't mention them, but they were right there on the seat in full view).