Tropically Sweet

Does your favourite fruit say something about who you really are? Errr... I’ll leave that to the psychoanalyst to figure out. All I know is mine is the pineapple. It’s not exactly pretty and the prickly look seems like a total turn off. Unlike other fruits for example mangos and oranges, it’s very hard to tell when a pineapple is ripe. Then when you have finally picked a ripe one you need to cut it up, remove all the divots (the numerous evil looking “eyes” in a pineapple) and make sure you have more of the fruit on your plate than in the bin. Abeg, it is hard work!

For me, it’s all about the labour of love, which was drummed, more like forced into me by my dearest mother. She used to say take charge of something and do it properly so if you ever left people would miss you. Right! I was always in charge of preparing the fruits during Ramadan growing up so I had to learn how to tell when the pineapple was ripe. A ripe pineapple should have a yellow-golden colour at the base of the fruit. The further this colour rises to the crown, the better. Pull a leaf from the crown and if it has got a large white area then you are good. If the leaf can be pulled easily then your pineapple belongs in the bin. Sometimes what you see is not what you get. Even if your fruit is the most beautiful yellow-golden colour you have ever seen, touching and smelling it will also help you choose the best one. Is it firm to your touch? If it’s too soft or spongy then it’s rotten. If you get high from just a sniff of the base, then get ready you might just be looking at getting wasted on something natural *wink* *wink*. If you are going to try all of the above at a supermarket, I suggest you wear sunglasses to hide your face. You don't want to end up as the latest YouTube hit - 'customer caressing pineapples'.

Cutting it up is another kettle of fish. This is messy and most times results in itchy fingers. If you ask an "expert" how they would cut a pineapple they would probably tell you to cut off the crown and the base of fruit then stand the pineapple on the base and cut the skin off the sides in stripes. I find this very difficult to do. Please don't let the videos on YouTube fool you and cutting the skin off in stripes this way means you taking a lot of the flesh off. If you ask me, I would say yeah cut off the crown and base of the fruit, slice the pineapple  into about 2cm thick discs, you are now able to take off the skin easily as your knife has a shorter distance to travel. I love the hard middle bit so I leave it in. Most people cut them out.

After cutting up the pineapple into medium size chunks, what I like to do is place them in the freezer for about fifteen minutes for the juice flowing around the chunks to crystallise so that it gives it a nice crunch. What I used to do during Ramadan before we break our fast was to sit on the freezer so that no one had access to the fruits I had placed in there. If I felt that it hadn’t been in there for long enough I wouldn’t let any one touch them even if it was time to break our fast. This made me very unpopular! To confirm if they were ready I had to eat some, by the time I was done “confirming”, there was hardly anything left in the bowl most times. I don’t think my family missed me preparing the fruits for Ramadan after I went to boarding school,  so much for ‘mummy’s’ knows best.

Because the pineapple is frozen around the edges, the juicy middle gets really cold. When I bite into the juicy middle, tangy sweetness explodes in my mouth (no pun intended!) and awakens my taste buds. Beware this can also cause some brain freeze! It is for this sensation I go through all this trouble to create the perfect snack because really you can always pop into your nearest supermarket and buy a pack with only five tiny chunks in it at five times the price of a whole one! The weirdest bit about my love for pineapple is that this is the only way I can eat it, in its purest form. Ok I lie. For extra tanginess I squeeze about a table spoon of lemon on the chunks. I can’t stand it in other dishes though. If you want evil looks from me, give me that pizza with the pineapple toppings, what is it called again…? Ehen Hawaiian Pizza... yuck!

P.S. - All photographs taken by me unless otherwise stated