Golden Deliciousness

Summer is coming. This town I live in is soon to be swarming tourists who come from far and wide to see the great Western United States. Zion. Bryce. Yellowstone. The great Grand Canyon. There is no snow and the gods have turned up the thermostat. That north wind is no longer cold and instead feels like a hair dryer on high. The soft greenery that came with so much hope at the beginning of spring now realize that we're in a drought and water is scarce. They suffer, turning yellow and dry, ready to burn everything down with a single spark of dragging chains. Wildfires. Dust. Nonstop wind. Hell is upon us.

Oh wait, I can grill Pineapple now. Maybe it's not too bad. Let's start over.

Summer is coming and with it a new season of food. Spring opened up the doors to new growth and another season of delicious produce. How lucky are we to live in such a dry place, yet with a simple trip to the store I can come out with mango's, avocados, and the king of them all, pineapples.

Beautiful. Juicy. Refreshing. Golden. Foreign. All of these qualities describe pineapple. The pineapple whip can be a refreshing sweet treat as you wander around in the summer heat. Fruit salad can be zested up with this tangy and acidic fruit. The best way to cook this fruit is to cut the pineapple into circles and throw it on a grill. The fire seems to add a magical flavor to this golden fruit and the black grill marks on the surface give it wonderful character. Eat it warm, throw it on a burger, whatever you do, don't stand in awe for too long to admire this fruit because it longs to be consumed.

Wait, one last suggestion, do not throw it on pizza. Pizza takes away the greatness of the spiky fruit. THEY DO NOT BELONG TOGETHER.

Oh. Don't eat it with dairy either. Apparently the enzymes in pineapple break down casein in dairy products, which makes them bitter. Yuck. Who wants bitter milk? Nasty. Other than that, what makes them so amazing?

Way back in the 1400's when pineapples were being discovered by the Europeans, it was a sign of wealth and only the very rich could afford them. They were displayed at parties to be admired because if someone had a pineapple, it meant they had about $8000 bucks lying around to throw at a fruit. This, of course, died off just a bit and pineapples became increasingly more affordable. From wealth it because a sign of hospitality. To show love or care for someone, pineapples could be gifted in the early 1900's. Now days, it makes a great addition to a gathering or BBQ. It's significance has been apparent for literally hundreds of years and is steadily becoming one of America's favorite fruit.

How long does it take to grow this delectable commodity? Three years for the plant to grow and then an additional year to grow from blossom to hefty fruit. That's a lot of waiting and luckily there are large producers of pineapple that keep the crop rolling and making it's way throughout the world. These producers are primarily from Costa Rica, Philippines, Indonesia, and Brazil. So even though you might think about enjoying fresh pineapple on a beach in Hawaii, you can actually find these in many other places and in vast quantities.

Now, we could get into the monoculture of these large scale productions of pineapple, the labor problems and violations, and harm on the environment from practices that could be totally revamped, but right now let's focus on the good things.

Summer is coming and with it the sweet, aromatic, juicy fruit encased in a spikiness. If you'll excuse me, my pineapple is ripe, my grill is going, and my lawn chair is calling my name. It's going to be a good evening.