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out of season
DON ED'S PINEAPPLE 

Don Ed's Pineapple

Sale price£18.00
Net: 1.8kg± Grown at Altitude

Grown at 700 metres on the Pacific slopes of the Andes and air-freighted from Ecuador. Cooler nights at altitude slow ripening and build sugar that lowland fruit cannot match — and pineapples do not ripen after harvest, so only fruit picked at full maturity delivers its potential.

A pineapple from Ecuador, grown at 700 metres altitude on the Pacific side of the Andes and air-freighted to the UK. The difference between this and a supermarket pineapple is not variety or marketing — it is ripeness. Most pineapples sold in the UK are harvested early, shipped by sea for two to three weeks in refrigerated containers, and arrive firm but underdeveloped. An air-freighted pineapple is picked later, closer to full maturity on the plant, and arrives within days. This matters because pineapples do not continue to ripen after harvest. Unlike bananas or avocados, the sugar development stops the moment the fruit leaves the plant. What you pick is what you get.

Pineapple is a non-climacteric fruit — unlike bananas or avocados, it produces no ethylene surge after harvest to trigger further ripening. A pineapple left on a kitchen counter may soften and develop aroma as the flesh breaks down, but the sugar content does not change. It gives the illusion of ripening without any actual increase in sweetness.

The altitude is part of what makes this fruit different. At 700 metres, equatorial daytime heat drives photosynthesis and sugar production, but the cooler nights slow the plant's respiration — the process by which it burns those sugars for energy. The result is a net accumulation of sweetness that lowland-grown pineapples, ripening faster in uniformly hot conditions, do not achieve to the same degree. The volcanic soils of the Andean foothills add mineral richness to the growing conditions.

This is a large fruit at around 1.8kg, with bright golden flesh, a fragrant aroma at the base, and virtually no fibrous core. Serve at room temperature for the fullest flavour.

Producer: Don Ed's — Ecuador.