Pineapple Facts
A Few Quick Pineapple Facts for You
If you like pineapple, facts say there's good reason for that.
• Pineapple facts confirm that roughly eighty countries produce pineapples, and the total produced is about thirty-two million pounds every year.
• There is a small group of countries, from which seventy-five percent of all the world's pineapples come. These countries are Indonesia, Mexico, Kenya, Nigeria, Costa Rica, India, China, Brazil, the Philippines and Thailand.
• Early in the twentieth century, Florida and Hawaii were the United States' pineapple-producing leaders, but Thailand took the lead in 1975. The United States is now ranked fourteenth in production levels in the world.
• Fresh pineapples, facts say, outsell all processed forms of the fruit, including canned and juice. In the United States, pineapples are ranked fifth in consumption out of all the fruits. Each person averages about twelve and a half pounds of pineapples consumed in an average year.
• The United States exports fresh pineapples, and ninety percent of those exports are sold to Canada. Canada also buys thirty-three percent of our canned pineapples exported, and ten percent of the pineapple juice that we export.
• Pineapple facts tell us that pineapples rank second in consumption among tropical fruits. About two thousand varieties of pineapples exist, and they are most often grown in the sub-tropical and tropical areas of America.
• Pineapples were first grown in Paraguay and Brazil, and their name comes from the minds of European explorers who thought they resembled pine cones, but with the fruit of an apple.
• Christopher Columbus took pineapples, facts say, back to Europe with him, because the Queen of Spain had a fondness for tropical and sweet fruits.
• Pineapples were first canned in 1901, but they didn't become popular until 1911, when someone invented a machine that could remove both ends, the skin and the core conveniently and quickly.
• Pineapple facts say that they take almost eighteen months to grow to full and ripe maturity, and they are only picked when they are fully ripe.
• Pineapples contain a specific enzyme that helps to break down protein. In this way, pineapple juice can be used as a tenderizer and marinade for some meats.
• People with liver or kidney disease or hemophilia cannot eat pineapple, facts point out, because it may cause the person's blood coagulation level to slow.
• Interestingly, the fruit is beneficial for people who have disorders of the intestine, and some even claim that eating pineapples helps induce labor with overdue babies.
• Pineapples are a great source of vitamin C. In fact, a one cup serving of pineapple, facts proclaim, has ninety-four percent of a person's daily requirement. Pineapples are also an excellent source of manganese, and easy to cube and take along to work or school as a tasty, nutritious snack.