Interesting bit of information about pineapples - all because of hearing If You like PIna Colada's on Daron's show this morning
Pineapples weren't always as easy to come by as they are today. Once they were extremely rare outside of the tropics and actually considered a status symbol.
It all started when Christopher Columbus was on his second Caribbean voyage. When word of the fruit got back to Europe, and later samples came back as well, it became highly sought after.
Fresh fruit and sugar were both rare in Europe, so this sweet fruit with such an exotic shape quickly became the cream of the crop. Pineapples were so rare that a king even had a portrait painted of himself receiving one as a gift!
In colonial America, pineapples became just as sought after. A hostesses' ability to have a pineapple for an important dining event said as much about her rank as it did about her resourcefulness, as they were very hard to get ahold of. Most would rot before reaching the northern colonies.
To make them more available, pineapples were rented out for parties and then resold to more wealthy customers who would actually eat them.
A little food for thought next time you eat a pineapple
