What is a pineapple?
The pineapple is technically not a single fruit, but a sorosis. The fruits of a hundred or more separate flowers grow on the plant spike. As they grow, they swell with juice and pulp, expanding to become the "fruit."Pineapple Facts
Pineapples do not grow on trees, as many erroneously think. They are the fruit of a bromeliad, rising from the center on a single spike surrounded by sword-like leaves. The pineapple plant is the only bromeliad to produce edible fruit.Commercial pineapple plants are only harvested two to three years, because the fruit begins to get smaller with each year of plant life.
Pineapples weigh between four and nine pounds on average but can reach weights up to twenty pounds.
The waste parts left from canning plants, including the skin, core and ends, are used to make alcohol, vinegar and food for livestock.
More about Pineapples and Pineapple Recipes:
• Pineapple Selection and Storage• Pineapple Cooking Tips
• What is a pineapple? - Pineapple Facts
• Pineapple Measures, & Equivalents
• Pineapple History
• Pineapple Lore and Legends
• Pineapples and Health
• Pineapple Recipes
Pineapples Photo © 2007 Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, licensed to About.com, Inc.
