shipment or storage; translucent areas seem to
be caused by growing conditions that load the
fruit cell walls with sugars. The quality of
pineapples from the subtropics is less reliable
than that of fruit from near the equator, where
seasonal and climatic variation is minimal.
Pineapple Flavor Pineapples are remarkable
for the intensity of their flavor, the experience
of which the 19th-century English writer
Charles Lamb described as “almost too
transcendent...a pleasure bordering on pain,
from the fierceness and insanity of her relish.”
At their best they are both very sweet and
quite tart (from citric acid), and with a rich
aroma provided by a complex mixture of
fruity esters, pungent sulfur compounds,
essences of vanilla and clove (vanillin,
eugenol), and several oxygen-containing
carbon rings with caramel and sherry
overtones. A given pineapple has many
different flavor zones. The fruitlets near the