It has been quite a few years since I’ve tried eating a fresh pineapple, but did remember that it was one of the few fruits that tasted better canned. But my local grocery store had them on sale for 89 cents (Star Wars pineapples, no less!) so I bought a couple of them. So I ate one today, and my gums bled on it, and I ended up with burning lips. I wondered what was up with that, could pineapple possibly have something similar to urushiol? Googling quickly showed me that fresh pineapple contains a protein-digesting enzyme called bromelain, and my mouth is still stinging as I type this. Don’t know how I managed to avoid/forget that pineapples attempt to eat you that last time I ate a fresh one.
Pineapple makes my mouth feel like I’ve been chewing razorblades after a couple of bites. However, making a spicy pineapple dressing out of crushed pineapple, olive oil, cilantro, garlic, and crushed red pepper seems to work.
I have digestion problems and I keep small cans of pineapple juice handy for when stuff doesn’t seem to be moving through my stomach. It really helps break it down!
Fresh pineapple has an enzyme that inhibits hairball formation in pet rabbits; buns groom like cats but can’t vomit, so HBs really muck up the works. Pineapple to the rescue. Not canned, though, the canning process destroys the enzyme. No idea if it works for cats.
Yeah, if you ever read a Jell-o packet they say to never make Jell-o with fresh or frozen pineapple. The enzyme turns your gelatin fruit salad into soup. Canning/cooking destroys the enzyme.
^^^^ yeah, that. And the “burn” part of it, which in my experience is no more harsh than what you get from a lemon or a lime, is a part of the pleasure.
White pineapple, if you can get it, is less harsh. It used to be pretty readily available on Hawaii Island, but lately it seems to have vanished, having been replaced with something they are calling “Hawaiian gold.” The gold ones must be easier to grow than the white, because they are everywhere. They are almost, but not quite, as good. I’d still pay extra for white pineapple, if I could ever find it. White pineapples have all the sweet, aromatic goodness of yellow pineapple with none of the sharpness.
Fresh pineapple is far, far better than canned, so much so that there’s almost no comparison. The catch is that if you live in the continental US, you’ve probably never had fresh pineapple.
Pineapple that’s been sitting around long enough to catch a cheap ship and a cheap truck to your grocer’s supplier, and then sat around on the store shelves, yeah, at that point you might as well just can it.
