Pineapple Memories
Foods have an amazing ability to send us back in time. You can remember an exact moment; remember where you were and who you were with. You can remember your aunt and mother giggling in the kitchen like a couple of school girls because the Redi-whip shot all over the ceiling and themselves, instead of on the pineapple upside-down cake. Sunday dinner at my uncle’s house and watching Disney in colour on my uncle’s new TV, the first one I had ever seen. Whenever I see or taste an upside-down cake, I am instantly taken back there.
Upside down cakes are as old as the hills. In the 1800's settlers made what were called skillet cakes in their cast iron pans. Fruit (not pineapple at that time) was mixed with sugar and butter in the bottom of the pan and a cake batter poured over top. The cake was inverted to serve so that the glaze formed by the caramelization of the sugar, fruit, and butter would be on the top.
The pineapple originated in Brazil and Central America. The symbol of the fruit is prevalent in ancient Inca ruins. Once discovered by explorers like Columbus and Drake, it was transported to other tropical countries and quickly cultivated. The plants are easily propagated by using clippings or replanting the top of the fruit, even after it has long dried out. (Our chef has two plants growing in her kitchen at home, started from the trimmed top of some fruit from work.) Columbus brought the fruit back to Europe and it was adopted as a symbol of hospitality, and integrated into art and architecture of the 16th - 19th centuries. Because of its appearance, the British called the fruit “pineapple” after the Spanish word pina, meaning pinecone. The majority of non-English languages use the root annas from the Brazilian Indian word for “excellent fruit.”
We usually associate the pineapple with Hawaii, but it wasn’t until 1777 that Captain Cook introduced the fruit there. Today, Hawaii and Malaysia are the prime producers of this fruit, although I have noticed that a lot of the pineapple I see in my grocery store today are from Florida.
The pineapple is not actually one fruit, but many. Each of the diamond-shaped segments is a separate fruit and the prickly bristle extending from the eyes are remnants of flowers that once bloomed on the pineapple spike.
The enzyme in pineapples, bromelin, makes a great tenderizer for meats, but due to its strength, it shouldn’t be left on the meat too long before cooking, unless you want mush! It is this enzyme that makes it impossible to use the fresh, uncooked fruit in a jelly dessert. Canned pineapple can be used since it is cooked during the canning process, or you can cook freshly cut. Heat quickly breaks down the enzyme and makes it inactive. In the world of whole foods, bromelin is regarded as useful in reducing muscle and tissue inflammation, which could possibly lead to applications in the reduction of joint pain and improved wound healing. Only fresh, uncooked pineapple has this potential. The enzyme is also a proven digestive aide.
As for the popularity of the pineapple upside-down cake, it may just be a case of great advertising. Canned pineapple became available in 1902, invented by Jim Dole. In 1925, the Dole Pineapple Company ran a contest for recipes using their canned product. There were over 60,000 entries! Of these, over 2500 were for a pineapple upside-cake. There must be a lot of us with mothers from that era who have fond pineapple memories.
The pineapple will not continue to
ripen after it is picked; it will only rot. The fruit must
be harvested as close to ripeness as possible, allowing for
time to transport it to market. Therefore, when you buy a
pineapple, pick one that shows very little green and is
slightly soft and smells like pineapple. If you want your
fruit juicier, you can leave it to soften at room
temperature for a few days; this will also decrease the
acidity but it won’t make it any sweeter.