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Bring the tropics to Britain with a pineapple crop
It may take about half a decade, but the unique taste of home-grown pineapple makes it a worthwhile and good-looking addition to your indoor plants, argues MAT COWARD
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GROWING edible pineapples in Britain is surprisingly easy. Admittedly, you’ll be waiting about five years for your first crop, the pineapples are much smaller than those from the supermarket and once a plant has produced a single fruit it dies, so achieving self-sufficiency is unlikely. But the smell and taste of a just-picked pineapple, as compared to even the freshest shop-bought fruit, is a revelation.
Start with a whole pineapple from the shop, if possible choosing one with a green, firm, fresh-looking tuft of leaves. When you’re ready to eat it, first cut off the top of the fruit, so that you’ve got the leaves along with about half an inch (1.25cm) depth of fruit. Leave that on the kitchen counter for a day or two to dry out a bit, which makes it easier to handle.
You now need to remove all the soft, sticky flesh from around the core of the stem, which is visible at the centre of the half-inch “collar” of fruit. If the pineapple is exactly dry enough and precisely ripe enough, this will come away easily, as if it’s perforated. If not, you’ll have to do it some violence with a very sharp knife.
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