The pineapple is native to Brazil and Paraguay. Native Americans carried them north, up into Mexico long before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Strikingly interesting, Caribbean chiefs had their crowns or tops planted outside their doorways.as signs of welcome. Hummingbirds, also native to the Americas have been helping pollinate pineapples for a long long time.
Hundreds of years later, a Dane by the surname of Jensen, planted pineapples on the Treasure Coast. By 1902, Jensen Beach had become the U.S. and the world capital for pineapple production. Each summer season, 1 million boxes of the fruit was shipped Up North (a place to us Floridians) on the Florida East Coast Railway to New York City.
Locals still grow the fruit in their yards, favoring the super sweet Hawaiian Gold variety. When my neighbor moved in a few years back, I gifted her with a pineapple from my own yard. She in turn planted the crown and continued its growth.
Pineapples are still the sign of “Welcome to the Treasure Coast,” where the only real gold you’ll find is what’s inside the pineapple’s skin.
“The Pineapple” Kelly Jadon, 2021, $75, SOLD!
(C) Kelly Jadon, 2021