I too feel that saying things in text form tend to make them sound hostile, maybe passive-aggressive, like sticky notes saying "please clean out the fridge by 3:00pm today". It takes many more words to make it sound less aggressive, so I just assume others are trying to save me the effort of reading extra words.
Lol, I'm late replying, but I guess that's why I often write so much!
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Beautiful pineapple photos, Galka!
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My little West African Sugarloaf is not looking as pretty now as it did since the flowers died off, but at least it is a little bigger.
I now have 4 White Jade planted, so that makes 8 pineapples total, for now. I suspect I will eventually have something closer to numbers in the 50s, since they are so easy to grow here in the Keys, and can be very attractive for borders and out of the way places between plants. They don't seem to take up much with a root system to take away from other plants, and I can't imagine ever having too many pineapples, if I'm lucky enough to get them all to fruit!
So I may become a bit of a pineapple collector in time. I will tell you, fyliu, I get your point about the difference between home grown and store bought fruit - but wow, is there a difference between some pineapple varieties! I have not had the pleasure to taste too many different kinds, but I have traveled to many countries around the world, and any time I am in a place that has pineapples, I am sure to taste some. I don't know what the name for it is, but if I can figure out how to get a hold of that white pineapple they grow in Costa Rica, I can tell you it is nothing like the yellow pineapples I have had in the states, even the fresh one I grew from my Royal Hawaiian plant (which was extremely good, by the way - a lot of sweet strawberry flavor mixed in with the pineapple taste). The Costa Rica white one, is extremely acidic so much that it eroded some of my gums and the roof of my mouth after eating so many, and it is stark white like bleached paper. The core is only slightly tough compared with the rest, so it is easily edible without cooking it, but not what I would call coreless. Aside from the extreme acidity, the taste was better than any yellow pineapple I have ever had, very sugary, and almost like it was a totally different fruit from the yellow pineapples if you were to go by taste alone. Let's say it was like comparing apricots to peaches, if that taste comparison means anything to you - similar, but you wouldn't necessarily know it was the same fruit if you couldn't see what it looked like. The Costa Rican one is like pineapple crack, really. It was bad for me and destroyed my mouth, but I could not stop eating more of them! It was kind of like... well, this might not be a clear explanation but there is a kind of pineapple candy that comes from another country (I forgot which one now) that is tart, white, pineapple-flavored sugar in a straw like a US Pixie Stick candy. The taste is very strong, very sweet, and shockingly addictive. The white pineapples I had in Costa Rica tasted like that.
I feel like maybe somebody told me the name of that pineapple, but now I don't remember if it was on this forum or somewhere else, and I don't remember at all what they said.
Anyway, my point is, I have not had any Sugarloaf varieties (at least that I knew by name) to compare to. But in my own limited experience of pineapple sampling in different regions of the world, I have found that that different varieties can have strikingly different tastes, so much so that they almost seem like they are not the same species, but a related species of fruit. Like comparing different kinds of annonas, would be a good example. Like how sugar apple and custard apple and guanabana/soursop are similar, but not the same fruit or same flavor profile.
This is why I was so excited to see what it looks like to grow a pineapple in person, because they are prettier than I expected. And here, they are pretty easy to grow in ground (hence why there was once a major commercial pineapple industry in the Keys, although most of the good soil they used is gone now due to development). I imagined that they would look very different too. I have never seen a plant that had both red and purple flowers at the same time. And I am wondering if this is the case for all varieties of pineapple, if they have different colors of flowers. I like that their leaves can vary so much which is definitely a plus, given that generally speaking, I am not much into bromeliads for looks. I guess that changes when they provide food for me, though!
So I will be looking now for all the varieties that I might want to collect, based primarily on flavor. I suspect there are more than are commonly discussed, given how many countries around the world grown them. We hear usually about commercial varieties, or particularly ornamental varieties, but it seems there are a lot of small regional varieties that may have a lot of worth in taste, although they don't ship well. I have heard of a number of varieties, some unnamed, from here in Florida that people swear are worth being very excited about, if you can manage to find one. But again, all that development wiped out not only the fields, but many people's personal home collections of deliciousness.
Anybody who has varieties from any part of the globe to recommend for taste or unusual features, even unnamed, please do so here! And also, keep those beautiful pineapple photos coming!