1871–1873. Crop Post-Harvest: Science and Technology

143 Crop Post-Harvest: Science and Technology , First Edition. Edited by Debbie Rees, Graham Farrell and John Orchard. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2012 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 7 Pineapple Nimal Adikaram and Charmalie Abayasekara INTRODUCTION The pineapple Ananas comosus L. Merril. is the leading member of the Family Bromeliaceae native to Southern Brazil and Paraguay where wild relatives occur. The pineapple was apparently domesticated by the Indians. The plant was carried through Southern and Central Americas to Mexico and the West Indies long before the arrival of the Europeans. Pineapples are grown in Australia, Brazil, China, Hawaii, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Brazil, China, Philippines and Thailand are the main pineapple producers in the world supplying nearly 50 of the total output FAO 2004. Total production of pineapple was 14 million tons in 2003 FAO 2004. Nearly 70 of the pineapple is consumed as fresh fruit in producing countries. The pineapple is a xerophytic, succulent, herbaceous plant Bartholomew and Malezieux 1994. The plant is a perennial, flowers only once and dies after fruiting; a side root then takes over. There are genetically diverse groups of pineapple: the Cayenne group, Queen group, Red Spanish, Abacaxi group and Maipure group Leal and Soule 1977; Grazia et al. 1980. The commercial varieties are classified into three groups, the Cayenne group, Queen group and Red Spanish, based on their morphological characters. Smooth Cayenne is the world’s most grown and largest commercial group Grazia et al. 1980 used in processing and fresh fruit trade. Cayenne has spineless leaves and big- ger plants, and produces fruits with shallow eyes and very sweet taste. Queen has spiny leaves and somewhat smaller plants and produces very sweet fruits with deep eyes. Spanish group plants have spiny leaves and produce medium-sized fruits with an acidic taste. Pineapple is a collective fruit made up of berry-like fruitlets developed from a whole inflorescence. The fruit is made up of 100 to 200 fruitlets which are fused together on a central axis or core. The fruit has a conical shape with larger fruitlets at the base and smaller ones at the top. Flesh of fresh or canned fruit is eaten as a dessert, and the juice has a growing demand as a beverage. The pineapple has long been one of the most popular of the noncitrus tropical and subtropical fruits, largely because of its attractive flavour and refreshing sugar–acid balance. FRUIT COMPOSITION The mature pineapple fruit contains 80–86 water and is a good source of carbohydrates. The sugars are not distributed evenly throughout the fruit; the bottom portion has more sug- ars than the top crown end because it is composed of more mature fruitlets Sinclair 1993. The fruit has 0.5–2 acids. Consumption of 100 g edible portion provides 218 KJ of energy Wenkam 1990. The fruit also has fibre. Potassium is the most prominent mineral, followed by calcium Table 7.1. Pineapple juice contains S-sinapyl-L-cysteine, N-L-γ- glutamyl-S-sinapyl-L-cysteine and S-sinapylglutathione in substantial concentrations Wen et al. 1999. Twenty-nine odour-active compounds were detected in an aroma distillate prepared from fresh pineapple, and five of these were key odorants in fresh pineapple flavour: 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-32H-furanone HDF; sweet, pineapple-like, caramel-like, ethyl 2-methylpropanoate