Pineapple Tree
One of the most common questions asked about pineapples, is whether or not they grow on a pineapple tree. It seems that many people imagine that somewhere in a hot, humid region of the world there is a large, swaying tropical pineapple tree covered with fruit. Other people think that they are grown underground, much like a potato or a carrot, and not on a pineapple tree at all.
It is actually the second group of people who are closest to reality, but a pineapple does not grow on a pineapple tree and it does not grow underground. A pineapple grows on top of the ground on a very short bush, that only grows to be approximately two feet tall. The pineapple plant has a very thick stem and around thirty prickly-looking spikes as leaves. Every year one pineapple plant produces one pineapple.
The pineapple is a member of the bromeliad (Bromeliaceous) family, along with Spanish moss. It is the only plant in this family that is raised as an edible food source. The pineapple is also one of only a few plants that uses a process known as CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism) photosynthesis. CAM means that the plants produce carbon dioxide during the night and store it as acid malate, a four-carbon compound. It is released during the day centering itself on the enzyme RuBisco, which aids in the plant’s process of photosynthesis.
The pineapple had its origins in Brazil and Paraguay, and then spread throughout all of South America to the Caribbean. Columbus came upon it in the Indies and transported it back to Europe on his ship. It is said that Columbus was the first to name the pineapple. He said that it looked like a pine cone, so it was named “pine” and “apple,” because apple was a commonly known fruiting tree. So, in reality, the pineapple was named after an apple tree and not a pineapple tree.
Once the newly named pineapple reached Europe, the Spanish brought it into the Philippines, Guam, Zimbabwe, and Hawaii. Hawaii has always been the base of U.S. pineapple production and distribution. There is much debate about when the pineapple was introduced in Hawaii. Some believe that it arrived on Spanish ships returning from the New World as early as 1527. Others give the credit for introducing the pineapple to Captain John Kidwell, who planted the first crop in 1885. There is evidence, however, that others experimented with the pineapple in the 1800s.
Regardless of when the pineapple itself arrived in Hawaii, it is James Dole who will be forever known as the “Pineapple King.” He purchased his first 61 acres in 1900 and by 1901 was growing and commercially distributing pineapples. He opened a cannery near Honolulu Harbor in 1907 and it became the largest cannery in the world. That first cannery operated until 1991. Dole bought an entire island in 1922 and covered it with pineapple plants--22,000 acres of pineapple plants. One thousand workers and their families lived on the island and cultivated the pineapples.
Del Monte also began growing pineapples in Hawaii in the early 1900s and the Maui Pineapple began growing pineapples on Maui in 1909. Del Monte withdrew from Hawaii in 2006, citing labor cost as the reason. This left over 5,000 acres of the Campbell Estate barren of pineapples. The Pineapple Research Institute, which was established under the combined efforts of all three U.S. companies, dissolved as well, with all experimental pineapple research divided evenly between Del Monte and Maui.