and as you can see from the user name i choose, raw pineapple is my thing!

altho i am a bit frustrated trying to find good pineapples, the growers seem to pick them when they are not fully ripened.

and having a raw pineapple that is not fully ripened causes my mouth to bleed-NOT FUN!

fully ripened pineapples are true heaven, i luv to do pineapple mono fasts, its an amazing experience.

this has been cut short this afternoon due to my mouth bleeding from a not so ripe pineapple.

i try to pick sweet smelling pineapples to ensure ripeness, but it seems as though 1 out of 3 are not as ripe as they could be.

it also upsets me that Whole Foods will chop up just about any darn pineapple not caring that they are hard and green, and put them out in plastic containers in the produce section where they have fresh chopped fruit.

i have had to actually return some because of this.

does anyone else enjoy doing a raw pineapple mono fast?

I haven't, but you've peaked my interests. What does a truly ripe pineapple look like?

david

hi, pineapple girl! here in brazil, you'd be called "menina de abacaxi"!

i LOVE pineapple too. sorry about the issues you're having....how does it make your mouth bleed? is it the texture?

the brazilian pineapples are smaller, and it's a little easier to tell when they're ripe. they go from black to a deep reddish-brown with some orange-yellow in spots. and, amazingly, they're actually even sweeter than hawaiian pineapple!

i've never done a mono-fast of any sort, but i could do it with pineapple too.

smoothie with pineapple and coconut water....mmmmmm......

what does a ripe pineapple look like, ahh...if i could only go by looks there

would be no problem.

an even all over golden color is a good start, but that can still be decieving.
(i once bought some organic pineapples from Whole Foods that were dark green, and they turned out to be the sweetest ripe pineapples, with a white flesh!)

also, when the top leaves can be easily plucked from the top.

my best bet has always been to smell the pineapple and if there is a very sweet smell coming from the pineapple it is ripe.

but all these factors do still not insure a perfect pineapple.

why cant the growers just pick the ripe ones from their fields, they must

realize that a pineapple is a fruit that WILL NOT continue to ripen, no matter

how long they sit around in the produce isle at Safeway, or Whole Foods.

even a slightly unripe pineapple that starts off good can have unripe spots,
that causes my mouth and tongue to bleed.

but, sigh...there have been some good times where i got lucky and the lot

was good, i mono fasted for a week on nothing but raw pineapple.

That's too bad but if you keep returning unripe ones, which I know is a hassle, they might start trying harder. Also, at Safeway where I'm at if I request it they will cut open and give me a taste of any fruit or veggie I want, any at all! Then if it's good I buy that one, if not..they try another one.

I think it's the best time of year to buy pineapples imo. I can always get ripe ones now, without too much hard work. The smell as you say is the biggest clue to ripeness. I always smell the bottom end of it, and touch it to see if it's too ripe. Sometimes I will get one that is too ripe. The summer is harder to buy good ones, I was wondering if it's picking season in the Islands this time of year for pineapple?

I've been buying 2 pineapples a week, to juice with grapes or mostly fresh cranberries. I use the pulp in my fruit smoothies and it's tastes really good that way, and no waste! I also have been cutting up a small wedge to eat after a meal if I eat something heavier to help with digestion. I just started to do that. Today, though..all I've had is a fruit smoothie, and one Odwalla bar..not too hungry today.

Love,
Prism

welcome and happy pinapples

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Aloha PineappleGirl! Welcome to the boards!

The company I work for grows a variety called Maui Gold which is a bright golden color when ripe. Unfortunately the harvesting is very labor intensive and the harvest crew sweeps through the field at the point where most of the pineapples are at their peak. This means however, that much of what's being picked ends up not being ripe. The other difficulty is that a perfectly ripe pineapple will only last 4-5 days max. The field ripened pineapples that I pick for myself are usually what they call "precocious fruit"...it ripens much earlier than the rest of the field, so it would rot by the time they harvest. These fruit are a translucent gold inside. Sometimes I'll throw a dozen or so into the back of my truck and freeze a bunch when I get home to use in smoothies.
I haven't tried to do a pineapple mono diet yet, but I've thought about it. It might be because I'm surrounded by them for weeks at a time... to much of a good thing maybe.

Pineapple girl, Where do you live? I know that our company just made a deal with WholeFoods to carry our organic pineapple on the West coast.

I made an offer a few months ago to treat any fellow raw fooders who visit Maui, to some field ripened organic pineapple. The offer is still open!


Aloha nui loa, Greg

hi everyone!

yes, i too have noticed that pineapples are riper in the winter, and i think its because of the opposite seasons!

when i do a pineapple mono fruitarian fast i can eat up to at least 3 pineapples a day...yes that is a lot!

but an avereage pineapple has about 300 calories, so this is a bit under 1000 cals a day!

so it gets embarrassing always going to the stores and spending an hour checking out each pineapple and smelling them and such...


and then every checker has too comment "what are you going to do with all those pineapples"? whattya think im gonna do with them? please dont single me out and ask me what im gonna do with the food i buy!

but, a pineapple mono fast is amazing, and quick detox cleansing, and soooo easy on the digestion.

this last monday i had a bad experience with an apple mono fast, i spent monday just eating an apple whenever hungry. i spent the night and that next tuesday with a terrible stomach ache. no more apples for me.

grapes are so good, but they have to be organic or i wont eat them. although i do find i get to strong of a "sugar rush" from grapes that actually triggers too much hunger.

thanks to everyone for their warm welcomes, and Greg, i only wish i could afford to get to hawaii, i love pineapple so much i actually considered moving to hawaii!

oh greg another thing, i have actually had some maui gold pineapples before, and i have had really good ones and not so good.

i live in california, a great place for fruit, but since pineapple is an imported fruit...what can ya do?

I just moved from SoCal back to Oregon, and I'm missing the Ca. winter..but I am enjoying the house I'm living in which is my son's empty house..all to myself!

I think there was some method like cutting the bottom of the unripe pineapple and letting it sit out for a day or something like that for it to ripen up. Maybe you can cut it all up into the size you like to eat, then let the pineapple sit in it's own juices for a day, as that may help it to break down and get a bit seasoned before you eat it? Or mix with a ripe pineapple and let them sit in their juice together.

I really think that going back to eating pineapple daily is helping me to loosen up some things in my digestive system, old waste, etc..it is full of enzymes perfect for that.

Have you tried papaya? Maybe adding a ripe papaya to the unripe pineapple might also help with getting it ripened or seasoned, or somewhat broken down?

Love,
Prism

hi prism,

a nice lady at the Supermarket checkstand (Luckys) gave me a great tip, (instead of freaking out about all the pineapples i was buying).

i was telling her how hard it is to get ripe ones, but i ususally go by a sweet fruity smell from the bottom of the pineapple.

she said to take off the top stalks, (which i already had done) and store them upside down, so that the sugars and juice in the bottom of the pineapple will run down to the top part.

so i have a few on my kitchen table, upside down!

i have noticed that the bottoms of the pineapple are always ripe, and then when i get to the upper half, the flesh is paler, and not as deep color, and sure enough,

its those last few bites from the upper portion that cause my tongue, mouth and cheeks to start bleeding.

i try to make sure i buy pineapples that are fully golden all the way to the top, but not always available,

and still, every method i try has a small failure percentage rate.

maybe just eat the bottom half of every pineapple and throw the offending rest of it away...not good.

stand around and have the produce man cut up several dozen before i narrow it down to which ones i will buy?

then they will really think im nuts!

another thing...........about freshness and enzymes.

i read somewhere that the integrity of the enzymes in fresh fruit begins to rapidly deteriorate and continue to do so as soon as the fruit is cut and stored.

i feel that the enzymes in pineapple (bromelein) to have been beneficial to me,
and cleansing.

so if i have a bunch of cut up pineapple lying about in the fridge, i feel they are slowly losing enzymes.

sometimes during a lunch emergency i will drive to Whole Foods and buy their pre-cut fresh pineapple chunks in their produce section.

this can be a gamble, because they will cut up any pineapple lying around, not caring whether it is ripe, or fermenting itself to rotton.

does it sound to much a bother? it is and its worth it, because i love feeling healthy and knowing i take care of my body.