The pineapple looks like a big pine cone of course, and that's how it got its name. It's beautiful in its own right and looks great as a centerpiece on your table. It stands tall in the middle of a bowl of fruit, and it brings up images of exotic lands and healthful tropical living. And certainly, when ripe, the pineapple fruit is delicious to eat and a dessert favorite served raw, baked into cakes, or used in toppings, sauces, and marinades.
But the pineapple stands out in other ways and offers hidden benefits:
1) An International Symbol
Perhaps the pineapple is the only food item that is now a symbol meaning gracious sharing and friendship around the world. This gives it a peculiar distinction among foods and there are stories galore about the popularity of the pineapple and how it came to symbolize social charm, warmth, and hospitality.
2) A Story of Friendship
As the story goes, trade ship captains in colonial days brought pineapples home from exotic venues like the West Indies. It was a most revered delic. and if you received one as a gift, you were considered a true friend. Plus, if you were invited to visit the captain's home to share a pineapple, you were seen as a most warmly welcomed and special guest.
So, the custom was born. When a seafaring captain returned, he would place a pineapple on his doorstep or on the fence post in front of his home as a signal to welcome visits from his friends. From that time on, the pineapple emerged as a distinctive symbol still used today to offer welcome, friendship and hospitality.
Another legend has it that the Native American Carib tribe used pineapples as hospitality tokens, and that Columbus and his sailors then spread the souvenirs and the idea of friendship tokens around Europe. And of course, Southerners in the U.S. claim the pineapple as their own welcome symbol and you'll find innumerable images of it throughout the south - inside and outside homes.
3) A Nutritional Powerhouse
Pineapples are absolutely loaded with all kinds of vitamins and minerals like the B-Vitamins, Vitamin C, manganese, copper, magnesium, potassium, beta carotene, folic acid and dietary fiber. It's also full of bromelain - an extremely important enzyme that helps us balance and neutralize fluids, reduces inflammation and swelling, and aids in digestion too.
Related tags:
Tomato sauce,
juice concentrate,
tropical fruit processing
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