What made people refer to a banana as a banana and a pineapple as a pineapple rather than anything else?
There is a rationale behind the names given to everything, whether it is a fruit, vegetable, animal, or inanimate things such as stars, planets, and so on. However, some names are deceptive. Take pineapple, for example: it does not originate from a pine tree, nor does it resemble an apple.
When you look at a pineapple, you can mistake it for another fruit. The pineapple is really a collection of tightly packed tiny fruits! In South America, the pineapple is endemic to southern Brazil and Paraguay. This fruit, known as ananas, was introduced by Native Americans from South and Central America to the West Indies. On his expedition to the Caribbean in 1493, Columbus discovered the fruit on the island of Guadaloupe.
This strange new fruit featured an abrasive, segmented outside, similar to a pinecone, and a firm inside pulp, similar to an apple, to the European eye. So they combined the two and came up with the name “pineapple.”
Sweets and fresh tropical fruit were not widely available in Europe. These were brought back from many journeys and adventures at a high expense. In such conditions, the pineapple’s mature golden fruit, which was overflowing with natural sweetness, became a prized fruit. King Charles II of England appeared for an official photograph in which he is shown receiving a pineapple as a gift! Rich Europeans meticulously cultivated the pineapple in private greenhouses for many years thereafter.
Today, pineapple farms may be found in the West Indies, Florida, Northern Africa, Hawaii, and Australia, among other places. The pineapple plant may reach a height of 2 meters and a spread of 3 to 4 feet. It’s basically a short, robust stem with a rosette of waxy, strap-like leaves that yields fruit throughout the year. The pineapple plant’s leaves are also helpful because they contain a fiber that can be spun into fabric. Pineapples are produced from the beginning of the vegetative development cycle. The top or crown of the fruit is preferred by home growers. The crown of the fruit is removed by twisting it until it comes loose. After removing the bottom leaves and allowing the crown to dry for two days, the crown is planted.
Except for one, which is native to Guinea, all members of the pineapple family are native to the Americas. When the first English explorers came upon this unusual fruit, they mistook it for pine cones, which they had previously named pineapples. As a result, this fruit was given the name pineapple. They were unconcerned about the fact that pineapples had nothing to do with pines or apples. The pine cone similarity was not lost on the Spanish explorers. They were dubbed pia.
The pineapple family (Bromeliaceae) includes around 2000 species that grow from northern Chile and Argentina all the way to the United States. Although a few contain edible fruits, only the pineapple (Ananas cosmosus) is a commercially important fruit. This plant was native to South America and had been cultivated there for generations.
The term “pineapple” goes back to the Middle Ages (according to Merriam-Webster), and its origins are peculiar. When medieval botanists came across a new fruit on a tree that resembled an apple in any manner, shape, or form, they used the name “apple” — and a new delicious word was formed.
In reality, since the pinecone is the fruit of the pine tree, it was once referred to as “pineapples” (this usage dates back to the 14th century). Back then, no one would call a pinecone a “pinecone,” which is probably blowing your mind right now.
By the way, this isn’t specific to the pineapple (or pinecone). There are hundreds of other fruits having the word “apple” in its name or history, like the Latin term for peach, persicum, which means “Persian apple,” and the Latin name for pomegranate, pmum grntum, which means “an apple with many seeds.”
Pineapple is how English people refer to the fruit. The fruit is referred to as ananas by the rest of the globe. That’s because the fruit was originally known as ananas by the indigenous people who ate and farmed it.
Whether you ask an English-speaking individual if they’ve ever heard of a pineapple, you’ll probably get a bewildered face. Every schoolchild has undoubtedly heard of this unusual tropical fruit—if not as a fruit, then as a dessert ring, a smoothie ingredient, or a key component of a Hawaiian pizza.
However, if you ask an English-speaking individual whether they’ve heard of the ananas fruit, they’ll probably give you the same bewildered expression, but for the opposite reason. Even though it’s the word for the pineapple in practically every other major world language, the ordinary English speaker has no idea what an ananas is.
What Are Pineapples and How Do You Eat Them?
The fruit known as the pineapple is botanically known as Ananas comosus. It was called from its similarity to a pine cone and is native to South America. When Christopher Columbus discovered the fruit on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493, he is credited with bringing it to the attention of the world. Only 10% of the world’s pineapple harvests are grown in Hawaii now. Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Thailand, Costa Rica, and China are among the nations that contribute to the pineapple sector.
The pineapple plant has prickly leaves that protrude from the ground and is low-growing. The leaves are shaped like the foliage on the top of the fruit, which develops on the plant’s primary stem. A single pineapple fruit, with its brilliant yellow, fibrous meat and skin covered with colorful “eyes,” takes around two years for the plant to develop. Pineapple is widely available in stores, simple to chop up, and very affordable when compared to the amount of fruit you obtain.
Pineapple is a fruit that may be used in a variety of ways. Desserts, salads, savory foods, and drinks all include it. It may also be found in a wide range of meals across the globe, with the most renowned examples being American, Asian, and Caribbean cuisines. Some recipes call for pineapple slices, while others depend only on the juice. Prepared versions of both are available, but there’s something distinctive about the flavor of fresh pineapple.
The leafy crown at the top and a small slice at the bottom of a whole pineapple are trimmed off first while cooking it. Before being chopped up further, the pineapple is usually split in half or quarters lengthwise and into smaller wedges. Pineapple slices may also be sliced into circles. This makes removing the hard inner core and outer skin, which are discarded, more difficult. Cutting pineapple on a plate also allows you to catch the juice. Cutting a pineapple boat, which is an eye-catching serving plate, is a fun choice for pineapple recipes.
What Is It Like to Eat It?
Pineapple has a sweet and tangy tropical fruit flavor that is bright and vivid. Because the fruit’s base contains more sugar, slices from that area will be sweeter and more sensitive.
Storage
Although pineapple seems to be strong on the exterior, it is readily bruised. If you leave uncut pineapple out at room temperature for more than two days, it will lose its sweetness and become more acidic. It may be kept in the refrigerator for up to seven days if wrapped in perforated plastic. Allow it to come to room temperature before eating or cooking for the greatest taste. The juice from the cut pineapple should cover it completely. It may be stored in an airtight container for a few days or frozen for up to six months.
The terminology originated in the early 1600s, when European explorers of the Americas carried the fruit to Europe, naming it pineapple because of its similarity to a pine cone from a conifer tree. However, unlike tomatoes, avocados, and bananas, the spread of the tropical fruit did not coincide with the spread of the name. The dominance of French (with ananas) in prior centuries or the fact that other languages didn’t have another term to use, so they simply stayed with ananas, might be one reason (Theweek.com, 2014). The name ananas, on the other hand, comes from the Tupi word nanas, which means “good fruit,” and was first documented in 1555 by André Thevet, a French Franciscan priest and adventurer (Mic, 2014). It’s worth noting that Christopher Columbus came across the fruit during his journeys and named it pia de Indes. Outside of Spain and the Philippines, however, this term did not take on.
While European individuals are more linked than ever before, thanks to a myriad of exchange programs that bring people together, languages are always in touch. Every European citizen’s mother language has an impact on how English is used in Europe on a daily basis. As a result, when a new phrase is regularly used by European individuals speaking English among themselves, the official English name is occasionally lost. One may argue that a new variant of English has emerged in Europe, dubbed “European English,” in which the word pineapple has been substituted with the phrase ananas.