'Welcome' in any language
The modern day pineapple (known scientifically as Ananas comosus) has its centuries old roots in South America, somewhere in the vicinity of Paraguay and/or Brazil. But it took rockstar explorer Christopher Columbus to launch the '*princess of fruits' into the European limelight. Columbus encountered the pineapple in Guadeloupe in 1493 during their second voyage to the New World. They referred to it as 'piña', owing to its exterior resemblance to a pinecone, to which the English added "apple" because of it's juicy fruit center. It's aromatic scent and decisive flavor made it an instant hit wherever it traveled.
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| Painting by Hendrik Danckerts, 1675 Charles II of England presented with the first pineapple grown in England by his royal gardener, John Rose |
"The Renaissance Europe to which Columbus returned with his discoveries was a civilization largely bereft of common sweets. Sugar refined from cane was a rare commodity imported at great cost from the middle east and orient. Fresh fruit was also a rare item; orchard-grown fruit being available.... into the 1600s, the pineapple remained so uncommon and coveted a commodity that King Charles II of England posed for an official portrait in an act then symbolic of royal privilege -- receiving a pineapple as a gift." (http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html)
It took approximately two centuries for Europeans to master the art of growing the tropical pineapple. By the mid-1600s it was being successfully produced in “hot-houses” in Holland and England. Soon thereafter, the pineapple was introduced to Africa, Asia, and around the globe.
Back to the Americas
"Across the ocean, the pineapple took on other symbolic meanings in England's American colonies. The colonies were then a land of small, primitive towns and settlements where homes served as the hubs of most community activity. Visiting was the primary means of entertainment, cultural intercourse and news dissemination. The concept of hospitality--the warmth, charm and style with which guests were taken into the home--was a central element of the society's daily emotional life." (http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html)
"American colonists began importing the pineapple from the Caribbean in the 17th century. Due to its seemingly exotic qualities and rareness, the pineapple soon became a symbol of hospitality in early America. Because trade routes between America and Caribbean islands were often slow and perilous, it was considered a significant achievement for a host to procure a ripe pineapple for guests. Similarly, some accounts tell of New England sea captains who, upon returning from trade routes in the Caribbean or Pacific, would place a pineapple outside their homes as a symbol of a safe return." (library.ucf.edu/rosen/pineapple.asp)
Unsurprisingly, the pineapple's rarity and attendant expense, its exotic nature and its attractive looks, with it's patterned exterior and grand plumage, made it the natural focal point of food displays. At a meal's end the carving and serving of the succulent fruit served as the finale to the celebration.... rather like the ceremonial carving of a holiday turkey.
In addition to serving as edible table decor, the pineapple and its pattern found its way into all manner of 18th and 19th century decorative work adorning home and hearth; from bed posts, table pedestals and table linens to concrete entryway pillars, brass weather vanes, door knockers and umbrella finials.
Bearing Fruit
Creative Food Display in Colonial America
"Creative food display--the main entertainment during a formal home visit--was a means by which a woman declared both her personality and her family's status. Within the bounds of their family's means, hostesses sought to outdo each other in the creation of memorable, fantasy-like dining room scenes.
At such feasts, tabletops resembled small mountain ranges of tiered, pyramided and pedestaled foodstuffs often drizzled and webbed in sugar, studded with china figurines, festooned with flowers and interwoven with garlands of pine and laurel. Dinners were extravaganzas of visual delights, novel tastes, new discoveries and congenial conversation that went on for hours.
So sought after were the prickly fruits that colonial confectioners sometimes rented them to households by the day. Later, the same fruit was sold to other, more affluent clients who actually ate it. As you might imagine, hostesses would have gone to great lengths to conceal the fact that the pineapple that was the visual apogee of their table display and a central topic of their guests' conversation was only rented...
During the last century, the art of food display centered around the pineapple has faded to a quaint craft now largely associated with the making of certain kinds of Christmas decorations. These holiday fabrications are one of the few vestiges of an era when all life literally revolved around the dining room table; a less complicated era that left us the enduring icon of the colonial pineapple, a truly American fruit symbolizing our founding society's abiding commitment to hospitality as well as its fondest memories of families, friends and good times." (http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html)
Bearing Fruit
In America, commercial production of pineapples began to bloom in Florida in the late 19th century, making Florida one of the world's most prolific producer's of pineapple for a time. By the 1930s, Florida producers fell victim to climatic change and competition as central America and Hawaii took over as the chief growing areas.
Though the pineapple is said to have been part of Hawaiian culture since the 1600's, it was not canned there until about 1885. By the 1920's, the pineapple had become Hawaii's largest industry, thanks in great part to Jim Dole's Hawaiian Pineapple Company, founded in 1901. And until just recently, Hawaii remained the world's largest producer of canned pineapples, with central America and Asia now vying that distinction.
Fresh Fruit
Though the pineapple is no longer considered a rarity or luxury, it still holds its own on the list of top ten most popular fruits.... and it is my personal fave! Its image can be found in wallpaper, topping stationery - especially 'at-home' cards, in lamps and chandeliers, even key fobs, as illustrated by the bejeweled golden pineapple by Louis Vuitton which serves as this blog's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manners-a-la-Mode/118060644944647
Whether fresh or canned, sliced, chunked, crushed or tid-bitted, the ananas comosus and its iconic image of warmth and welcome are sure never to spoil.
* In his 1595 travelogue Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana, Sir Walter Ralegh wrote of, “the great abundance of Pinas, the princesse of fruits that grow vnder the Sun'.
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